Augustana Football Falls to No. 1 Colorado School of Mines

Get our free mobile app

GOLDEN, Colo. – A season that saw the No. 16 Augustana football team tie a record for most wins in a season came to an end Saturday in a 56-10 loss at No. 1 Colorado School of Mines.

The nation’s top-ranked team for the entire season got off to a quick start against Augustana and never looked back. The loss ended the Vikings’ season with an 11-2 record while winning the NSIC Championship outright for the first time since 1959. Mines moves onto the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals with its 12-0 record.

Mines scored on its opening drive, completing a 6-play, 58-yard drive with quarterback John Matocha scrambling four yards for the score.

The score moved to 14-0 in favor of Mines as Noah Roper went up the middle for six yards. It was then 21-0 in favor of Colorado School of Mines as the home team scored on a defensive touchdown.

Augustana got on the scoreboard with 9:28 remaining in the second quarter as Jake Pecina connected on a 24-yard field goal. The drive was a 7-play, 46-yard drive to set up Pecina to split the uprights.

The final score of the opening half was a 50-yard touchdown pass from John Matocha to Max McLeod for the 28-3 score at intermission.

On the Vikings’ opening drive of the second half, AU marched 79 yards over eight plays for the touchdown. A pair of 30-yard completions from Casey Bauman to Mitchell Goodbary set up the Vikings in CSM territory.

The scoring play was a pass to Logan Uttecht as he caught the ball at the two-yard line and lunged towards the pylon for the score.

Mines answered with a 75-yard drive spanning 3:36 of game clock for the 35-10 lead midway through the third quarter.

The No. 1 team in NCAA Division II kept its pressure on as it continued to score in the 56-10 final score.

Bauman tossed for 244 yards and the touchdown while Goodbary was the leading receiver with 89 yards. Avery Book punted five times for an average of 50.8 yards to raise his season average to 44.8 yards.

Haden Wallace led AU with nine tackles, six solo, as Peyton Buckley recorded eight tackles with a tackle for loss.

A number of single-season records were approached or broken in 2023. With today’s game, Logan Uttecht and Devon Jones broke the school record for games played with 49 over their careers. The duo played in every game in the 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons.