Angelo State football team's fourth-quarter rally falls short in quarterfinals

GOLDEN, Colorado -- A promising start quickly turned sour and a late rally came up just short for the Angelo State football team Saturday.

After the Rams took a 3-0 lead and held the Colorado School of Mines’ offense in check in the first quarter, the Orediggers scored 20 unanswered points in the second period and went on to defeat ASU 34-26 in the Division II quarterfinals at Marv Kay Stadium.

ASU was trying to make the Division II semifinals for the second time in school history, but instead saw its season end at 11-3 despite outscoring the Orediggers 16-7 in the fourth quarter.

Mines (12-1) advanced to the final four along with Valdosta State, Shepherd and Ferris State. The four semifinalists will be seeded to determine their matchups.

“It was a great football game,” ASU head coach Jeff Girsch said. “We knew it was going to be a very physical football game. I am proud of these guys. They came out and played hard. Overall, I am really proud of this football team. We have done some great things in this program in a short period of time. I feel like we have put some bricks down for the future and have a chance to continue moving in the right direction.”

With All-Super Region 4 first-team running back Nathaniel Omayebu III still sidelined from an injury he suffered in last week’s second-round victory against Nebraska-Kearney, the Rams had to rely more on their passing game and defense.

Early on, it looked like that plan might work out as quarterback Zach Bronkhorst passed for 100 yards in the first quarter and the Rams allowed just 26 yards to the Orediggers in the opening period.

“The first quarter was kind of what I expected in the sense of how we would come out right away and play hard and play fast and physical and our kids did that, '' Girsch said. ”Offensively we hit some stuff in the pass game that moved it down the field and kicked a field goal for an early lead. Overall, in the first quarter, it felt like what we thought we were going to see throughout the game.”

However, the Orediggers scored three second-quarter touchdowns to take a 20-3 lead at halftime.

ASU went back to its run game early in the second half and for the third playoff game in a row, running back Alfred Grear made another explosive play.

On the heels of a 100-yard kickoff return in the first round against Minnesota-Duluth and a 63-yard touchdown last week against Nebraska-Kearney, Grear got the Rams going in the second half with a 90-yard touchdown run to cut the Mines lead to 20-10.

“That was huge,” Girsch said. “We needed that to get back into it. I think it lit a fire a little bit. Alfred is capable of doing that on any play. That was huge for us to get back in the game and get that momentum going.”

Mines answered with a 42-yard TD pass from John Matocha to Mason Karp to put the game seemingly out of reach at 27-10 with 5:45 left in the third quarter.

The Rams kept fighting. Bronkhorst completed a 5-yard pass to Noah Massey to cut Mines' lead to 27-17 with 6:09 left in the game.

Bronkhorst finished with 331 yards on 23 of 41 passing. His leading receiver was Rasheen Green with 111 yards. Grear led the Rams on the ground with his 90-yard run.

Mines added one more touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Matocha to Michael Zeman with 4:31 remaining in the game to make it 34-17.

Zeman, a Harlon Hill finalist and first-team All-Super Region 4 selection, finished with 138 yards.

The Rams actually made it a one-possession game with 2:17 remaining. After scoring a safety when a bad snap over the Mines punter’s head had to be kicked out of the back of the end zone, Bronkhorst completed a 16-yard pass to Green to make it 34-26.

After a failed onside kick, the Orediggers were able to run out the clock.

“They are a great defense,” Bronkhurst said. “They schemed us well, but we ended up there at the end, finding a little rhythm. Coach preached to keep on fighting and keep on fighting and just the mentality I had out there was to keep fighting until that last horn blows. I was going to give this team all I had.”

Defense dominated the first few possessions as the first three series -- two by Mines and one by ASU --ended with punts. The Rams finally got their offense going on their second possession.

Bronkhorst passed for 73 yards on the drive that ended with a 26-yard field goal by Asa Fuller that gave the Rams a 3-0 lead with 4:37 left in the first quarter.

Just when it looked like the Orediggers might answer, ASU’s O’Shea Jackson and Simon Maxey sacked Matocha for an 8-yard loss on third-and-9 at the Mines 45-yard line to force a punt.

Mines finally broke through the ASU defense early in the second quarter. Matocha found Max McLeod open across the middle and McLeod took it to the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown to make it 7-3 with 13:41 left in the first half.

The Oredigggers scored two more times in the second quarter, on a 21-yard pass from Matocha to Josh Johnston and a 1-yard run by Zeman.

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Angelo State football team's fourth-quarter rally falls short in quarterfinals