Sure, all eyes have been on Coach Prime and the University of Colorado this year. But the Orediggers are undefeated after trips to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Football Playoffs in 2021 and a loss in the 2022 championship game — and the team's ready for redemption.
“I stuck around for the team, for sure,” says sixth-year senior and captain Steele Petty. “In 2021 we went to the semifinals, and I really thought we could win the whole thing. So I wanted to be around as long as I could — take that last year, because I really believe that this team can win it all.”
Petty is one of over fifteen sixth-year players on the 2023 Mines squad, with the COVID-19 pandemic granting NCAA athletes on rosters in 2020 the chance for an extra year of eligibility to make up for missed seasons. There are 33 total seniors on the team, who will celebrate senior day on November 4 in their last home game before the playoffs.
Many of those players will end up with master’s degrees in addition to their undergraduate degrees from the highly rated school known for its engineering prowess.
Why stay, people often ask, when they could be putting those degrees to good use?
For many, including Petty, it’s to make the championship dream a reality.
“We're just a very driven team,” says sixth-year senior Kyle Bahnsen. “We wouldn't work so hard if we didn't love doing what we do and didn't want to win so bad.”
The sixth-year seniors who started their college careers in 2018 have made it to the playoffs each year, already notching as many playoff appearances as the school had tallied since the NCAA Division II Football Championship first began in 1973, with four.
Now, they're headed for a fifth after the last regular-season game on November 11.
“We’ve just gotten very comfortable with those playoff games,” says Jack Peterson, another sixth-year senior and captain. “That's what sets us apart.”
Peterson says none of them have big egos; they’re just confident and think this could finally be their year.
Plus, the team has excellent depth, he adds, should someone get injured or have an off day.
Several wins stand out this year as evidence of these theories: In their very first game, the Orediggers beat Grand Valley State; the team beat Angelo State the following game. Last season, it kicked off things with the same two matchups and lost both of them.
Immediately, the players say, it seemed like this year could be special based off those two wins alone.
“To come back this season and still be playing those two same teams again — and those two same teams are still really good teams — to be able to come out of both of those with wins felt really good for the team just moving forward,” Petty says. “We have a ton of momentum right now going into the playoffs.”
For Bahnsen, beating Western Colorado on October 28 also stood out to him. Both teams were undefeated up to that point.
“Everyone was kind of comparing us to them, and we were in a mood like, 'Okay, we're done listening to everyone else talk,'” he recalls. “We're just gonna go out there and play and show the nation that there's levels.”
The Mountaineers definitely weren't on the Orediggers' level, losing by a score of 42-7 as Mines quarterback John Matocha surpassed Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent to become NCAA Division II's all-time leader in total touchdowns, with 172.
Even though they want to win, caring for their fellow teammates was the biggest factor in returning for a sixth season for these athletes, they tell Westword.
“After six years, my body's tired,” Peterson says. “I definitely wouldn't be here if I didn't just love each and every one of these guys.”
Steele Petty, Kyle Bahnsen and Jack Peterson (left to right) all returned for a sixth season with one goal in mind: winning it all.
Catie Cheshire
The rigorous academics at the Colorado School of Mines are legendary. Players aren’t just normal college athletes who spend most of their time in the athletic complex; they often have to fight for their grades as hard as they fight for wins on the field. That’s an asset, Petty says.
“School is very hard for a lot of us, and so it kind of brings us closer together, because we have to rely on each other in the classroom and on the field on Saturday,” he explains. “It's just a really tight-knit group because of that.”
According to Petty, they live up to the stereotype of nerds. “People call us nerds, but they don't really know how deep those ties really go,” he says. “Like, [Peterson’s] super into LEGOs and I'm into trading card games. Everybody on the team is just quirky in some way with their other interests.”
The players are also not afraid to get silly, making a splash for their roster photos in which members of the team donned unusual hairstyles. Petty can be seen wearing pigtails. Safety Blake Ramsey and tackle Joey Beckner shaved the top of their heads but left a ring around the sides to make it look like they are balding. Matocha sports dual-space buns and tiny braids to frame his face. Several of the players are wearing temporary tattoos of the Mines mascot Blaster.
According to Bahnsen, even before 2018 there were players who’d decided to have a mustache competition for their roster photos. But not everyone can grow a mustache, so some team members decided to rock unusual hairstyles instead.
“If you want to do it, do it,” Petty says. “If you don't want to do it, then it's totally fine, too. Not everybody on our roster wants to look like goofballs, but it's definitely a fun thing.”
For those who live in Denver and crave some great college football — especially now that Deion Sanders’s Colorado Buffaloes aren’t playing as well anymore — it's just a short drive to Golden to catch a game.
“There's just not a more beautiful campus in DII,” Peterson says.
Right now, the six-year athletes are soaking in their last days of football before they have to enter the “real world."
“It's flown by to me,” Petty says. "It's exciting, but it's also bittersweet to think about the end of playing football for me."
Petty tells Westword that when they were freshmen, they hoped to one day win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Now that’s become an expectation — and their sights are much higher.
“It would be the culmination of all of our efforts since we came in as freshmen,” Peterson says of what clinching a championship would mean for the team. "Just to believe and take this place to places and heights that nobody ever thought of."
