PUEBLO, Colo. – Fifth-ranked Colorado State University Pueblo football opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play impressively here Saturday afternoon as the ThunderWolves used an explosive passing attack and a dominant second-half performance to roll past Colorado School of Mines, 45-17, in front of a season-high 6,733 fans at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.
With the victory, the Pack improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the RMAC, while Mines fell to 0-2-1 overall and 0-1 in league play. CSU Pueblo extended its NCAA Division II-best conference win streak to 26 straight games and has now won three straight games over the Orediggers.
"We challenged our players to have a good week of practice as we probably had the best practices we had all year long this week, and when you do that, you come out here on Saturday and play free, and that's what we were able to do today," fourth-year Pack head coach
Philip Vigil said following his 31st win as the Pack's coach. "I'm really proud of our guys. That was a good football team we played today."
Sophomore quarterback
Navi Bruzon (Peoria, Ariz./Highland Community College) continued his impressive start to the season, completing 22-of-27 passes for a career-high 421 yards and four touchdowns and added nine yards rushing for a season-high 430 yards of total offense. Bruzon connected on touchdown passes of 75, 66, 24, and 38 yards as the Pack finished the afternoon with a season-high 588 yards of total offense. The 421 yards passing are fourth-most in a game in school history and the most since
Roman Fuller threw for 442 yards last season at home against Chadron State.
Through three games this season, Bruzon is 61-for-87 for 1,022 yards, has thrown 11 touchdown passes and two interceptions, has accounted for 1,081 yards of total offense, and has had a hand in 12 of the Pack's 17 touchdowns.
"Navi continues to get better and better each week," added Vigil.
Junior receiver
Marcellus Honeycutt, Jr. (Aurora, Colo./Eastern Washington) was Bruzon's primary target as he caught seven passes for a season-high 156 yards, averaged 22.3 yards per reception and two touchdowns, while senior receiver
Dedrek Taylor-Akins (Fontana, Calif./Northeastern State) added six receptions for 89 yards. Senior
Nate Gravagno (Englewood, Colo./Englewood) caught a 66-yard touchdown pass, while redshirt freshman
Sean Conway (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) hauled in two passes for 51 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown.
Taylor-Akins and Honeycutt have combined for 35 catches for 659 yards and seven touchdowns as Taylor-Akins has caught a team-leading 19 passes for 393 yards and four touchdowns, while Honeycutt has caught 16 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns.
The Pack's 430 passing yards were complemented by 158 yards on the ground as CSU Pueblo ran 76 offensive plays, collected 30 first downs and averaged 7.7 yards per play. The Pack converted 9-of-12 third-down opportunities and controlled the ball for 35:33. Mines finished with 312 total yards, 14 first downs, and was just 3-of-12 on third down.
Mines opened the scoring on its first possession as the Orediggers drove 81 yards on 13 plays before settling for a 23-yard Preston Kyle field goal with 8:28 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Pack needed just 11 seconds to answer.
On CSU Pueblo's first offensive play, Bruzon found Honeycutt behind the Mines secondary for a 75-yard touchdown to give the Pack a 7-3 lead. The 75-yard pass is the second-longest offensive play this season for the Pack.
"You always know what you've got when you have No. 0 out there. He's an unbelievable player and we wanted to get him involved early and we were able to take a shot on the first play and Navi hit him in perfect stride," Vigil said about Honeycutt's opening touchdown.
After the Pack defense forced Mines to punt on each of its next two possessions, CSU Pueblo struck for another big play late in the opening quarter. Facing second-and-10 from its own 34-yard line, Bruzon connected with Gravagno for a 66-yard touchdown with 38 seconds remaining in the quarter to push the Pack's lead to 14-3.
CSU Pueblo added to its lead midway through the second quarter with an 11-play, 87-yard scoring drive that took 5:03 off the clock. Bruzon capped the drive by finding Honeycutt for a 24-yard touchdown on third-and-six to give the Pack a 21-3 advantage with 7:43 left before halftime.
Mines responded just over a minute later as Braelon Tate broke loose for a 71-yard run to the Pack's 2-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Joseph Capra connected with Blake Smotherman for a two-yard touchdown that cut CSU Pueblo's lead to 21-10 with 6:38 remaining in the half.
The Pack threatened to add another score before halftime as it drove 70 yards on 14 plays and reached the Mines 5-yard line, but the Orediggers stopped sophomore running back
Jaedon Matthews (Goodyear, Ariz./Cal Poly) on fourth-and-one to keep the margin at 11 points heading into the locker room.
CSU Pueblo took control of the game in the third quarter as the Pack possessed the football for nearly 13 minutes in the period, ran 25 plays to Mines' six, and outgained the Orediggers 158-11. Mines failed to record a first down in the quarter.
The Pack took the second-half kickoff and marched 87 yards on 13 plays while taking nearly six minutes off the clock. The drive included a 26-yard third-down completion from Bruzon to Taylor-Akins that moved the ball to the Mines 1-yard line before sophomore running back
AJ Merrida (Houston, Texas/Adams State) scored on a one-yard run to extend the Pack's lead to 28-10 with 8:58 left in the third quarter.
After forcing a three-and-out, CSU Pueblo put together another lengthy drive as it moved 44 yards on nine plays before senior kicker
Jackson Smith connected on a 26-yard field goal to give the Pack a 31-10 lead with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter.
The Pack added another explosive passing play on the first play of the fourth quarter when Bruzon found Conway for a 38-yard touchdown on third-and-14 to extend CSU Pueblo's advantage to 38-10. The touchdown capped a five-play, 55-yard drive by the Pack.
Mines answered with an 87-yard touchdown drive as Capra connected with Pierce Richards for a 27-yard touchdown with 13:12 remaining, cutting the Pack lead to 38-17.
The Orediggers were given an opportunity to draw closer after recovering a fumble by sophomore quarterback
Cam McGuire (Dallas, Texas/Woodrow Wilson) at the Pack 41-yard line with 10:37 remaining. CSU Pueblo's defense, though, turned Mines away as the Orediggers advanced to the Pack 28 before Capra's fourth-down pass to Tate fell incomplete.
Following the defensive stop, CSU Pueblo put the finishing touches on the victory with an eight-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that took 4:47 off the clock. Senior running back
Moosah Alsaffar (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) carried the ball six times on the drive for 31 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run with 3:25 remaining that set the final margin at 45-17.
The Pack finished with seven scoring drives on the afternoon, including six touchdowns, and five of those scoring drives covered at least 72 yards. CSU Pueblo had touchdown drives of 75, 77, 87, 87, 55 and 72 yards.
On the ground, sophomore running back
Russell Patton (Denver, Colo./Dr. MLK Jr. Early College) led the Pack with 61 yards on 12 carries and moved within 219 yards of becoming the 23rd player in school history with 1,000 career rushing yards, while Matthews rushed for 38 yards and Alsaffar finished with 32 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Merrida added the Pack's other rushing touchdown.
Defensively, CSU Pueblo held Mines to 128 rushing yards on 23 attempts after the Orediggers rushed for 245 yards in last season's meeting in Golden. Of Mines' 128 rushing yards Saturday, 71 came on Tate's second-quarter run. Outside of that play, the Pack held the Orediggers to 57 rushing yards on their other 22 attempts.
Capra completed 21-of-30 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, while Tate led the Orediggers on the ground with 74 yards on six carries. Richards caught a game-high eight passes for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Sophomore linebacker
Carter Daniels (Centennial, Colo./Mountain Vista) led the Pack defense with eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, while senior safety
Kahden Rullo (Denver, Colo./Grandview) added six tackles. Junior defensive tackle
Mario Rivas, Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Bakersfield College) recorded 1.5 sacks, while senior defensive end
Jaylen Booth (Merced, Calif./Merced College) added a half sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. The Pack defense finished with seven tackles for loss and two sacks in the win.
Through three games this season, the Pack has recorded nine sacks, 20 tackles for a loss and 18 pass break-ups. Daniels leads the way with 31 tackles, five tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks and is averaging 10.3 tackles per game.
The victory was CSU Pueblo's third consecutive win in the series against Mines after defeating the Orediggers 28-13 at the ThunderBowl in 2024 and rallying from a 22-point deficit for a 41-34 overtime victory last season in Golden.
CSU Pueblo returns to action next Saturday, Sept. 19, as the Pack travels to Chadron, Neb., for a 1 p.m. RMAC contest against Chadron State (1-1). The Eagles played a night game on Saturday at eighth-ranked Western Colorado.
