West Texas A&M (0-1) vs. Colorado School of Mines (0-0)
Date	Thursday, September 4th | 7:00 p.m.
Location	Canyon, Texas | Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium
Live Statistics	Link
Live Video	FloCollege (Pay-Per-View)
Radio	KGNCNewsNow.com | Listen Locally: 710 AM | 97.5 FM
Other Links	Game Notes | GameDay Roster

CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M opens their 2025 home schedule on Thursday night as they welcome the Orediggers of Colorado School of Mines to Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. in Canyon.
 
MAROON MADNESS
Fans are encouraged to wear Maroon on Thursday night. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free t-shirt. Thursday night's home opener is presented by Northwest Texas Healthcare System.
 
WEEK 1 MATCHUPS
Nine of the 10 Lone Star Conference football institutions are in action during Week 1, Sul Ross State is on their bye week. West Texas A&M hosts Colorado School of Mines for the only LSC contest on Thursday night. Saturday features eight matchups: Western New Mexico is on the road at New Mexico Highlands while Western Oregon hosts Southern Oregon. Emporia State makes the trip to Angelo State with Colorado Mesa hosting Eastern New Mexico. UT Permian Basin travels to Adams State while Midwestern State hosts Western Colorado. Texas A&M-Kingsville welcomes Lincoln (Calif.) to South Texas while Central Washington travels to Division I power Montana.
 
WESTERN COLORADO REWIND
The Buffs opened the 2025 campaign last Thursday night as the #10 Mountaineers of Western Colorado outscored WT 24-7 in the second half on their way to a 45-28 victory at the Mountaineer Bowl.
 
RJ Martinez was impressive in his first game in Maroon & White as the Austin product completed 22-of-37 passes for 262 yards and a pair of touchdowns, he also carried the ball seven times for 26 yards and a score. Jayden Hibbler led the ground game with 91 yards on nine carries while Drew Zamar caught six passes for 66 yards and a score. Canyon product Javin Cash led the way defensively for the Buffaloes with seven total tackles (two solo). Jamel Acosta-Lewis and David deMenezes had six tackles each followed by Miles Hill and Matthew Bryant with five. Ashton Reynolds registered a sack while Acosta-Lewis had three pass breakups.
 
CSM HEAD COACH BOB STITT
Bob Stitt is his second stint as the head coach at Colorado School of Mines, returning to Golden in February. First arriving in Golden in 2000, Stitt compiled a record of 108-62 during his 15 seasons at Mines, he is the program's all-time leader in wins. Stitt was inducted into the Mines Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.
 
Stitt departed Mines after the 2014 season to become the head coach at Montana, where he spent three seasons with a 21-14 record and a 2015 NCAA FCS tournament appearance. He spent the 2018 season as an offensive analyst at Oklahoma State, then 2019 as the offensive coordinator at Texas State, before returning to Colorado in the private sector. 
 
A LOOK AT THE OREDIGGERS
Colorado School of Mines enters the 2025 campaign receiving votes in the AFCA Division II Top-25 preseason poll. Mines went 8-3 last season with a 6-3 mark in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, the Orediggers were tabbed third in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
The Orediggers retain six members of their 2024 coaching staff including both coordinators in Tim Brandon (offense) and Tripp Thomas (defense). CSM added Chase Wilson to the staff in June to work with the wide receivers, Wilson previously worked with the tight ends and offensive line at Western Kentucky.
 
Redshirt sophomore Joseph Capra earned the starting quarterback job during preseason camp as the Denver product saw time in seven games with a pair of starts last season. He threw for 601 yards on 48-of-79 passes with five touchdowns and three interceptions, Capra also carried the ball 35 times for 215 yards and a score. 
 
Senior wide receiver Flynn Schiele enters 2025 coming off two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, including 1,195 yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games a year ago. An Associated Press, D2CCA, and D2football all-American along with First-Team All-RMAC in 2024. The West Linn, Oregon native is a two-year starter compiling 2,292 yards and 23 touchdowns in 32 games. Schiele was named to the D2Football Elite 100 Watch List as well as the East-West Shrine Bowl Watchlist.
 
Jackson Zimmermann is also a two-year starter at corner, earning AP and D2CCA All-America honors in 2023 and All-RMAC honors each of the past two seasons. In 33 career games, the Highlands Ranch, Colorado product has 79 tackles, eight interceptions, and 26 total passes defended including 15 in 2023 and eight in 2024.
 
FROM THE JUMP
The Buffs wasted little time showing their new offensive firepower on Thursday night in Gunnison as they opened the game with a quick 75-yard drive that only spanned five plays highlighted by a 42-yard strike from Martinez to Jamir Roberts before Sean Johnson finished off the drive on a six-yard touchdown run.
 
PUTTING UP YARDS
The 407 yards of total offense by the Buffs on Thursday in Colorado were the most by the program since a 465-yard performance in the Wagon Wheel Game at Eastern New Mexico on October 19, 2024.
 
THE LONE STAR STATE
The 2025 Buffalo football roster features 138 student-athletes with 102 playing their high school football in the state of Texas.
 
SIZE UP FRONT
The West Texas A&M offensive line features 20 student-athletes that boast a total of 6,065 pounds of blocking power for an average size of 303.3 pounds per lineman.
 
THE SERIES
The Buffaloes and Orediggers meet for just the third time on the gridiron Thursday night in Canyon. Colorado School of Mines is a perfect 2-0 in the series with meetings coming in 2021 and 2024. It will be the 2nd trip to the Texas Panhandle for the Orediggers as they topped the Buffs 21-13 in Canyon back on September 25, 2021. 
 
The last meeting saw the then #5 Orediggers score 27 first half points on their way to a 41-13 victory over the Buffs at Marv Kay Stadium in Golden on September 5, 2024.
 
The Orediggers are no stranger to the Lone Star State as they played in back-to-back NCAA DII National Title Games (2022, 2023) at McKinney ISD Stadium. They also battled Angelo State in a home/home series in 2022-23 with a 31-21 win over the Rams in San Angelo on September 9, 2023. Mines is 7-2 all-time against teams from the Lone Star Conference.
 
HEAD COACH JOSH LYNN
Josh Lynn is now in his third season at the helm of the West Texas A&M Football program after being named the 29th head coach in WT history. Lynn, widely regarded as one of the nation's up-and-coming head coaches, came to Canyon following six seasons at the University of Nebraska-Kearney where he led the Lopers to an overall record of 35-25 including a run to the Second Round of the 2021 NCAA Playoffs.
 
NEW FACES ON THE SIDELINE
WT Football welcomes four new faces to the full-time coaching staff as Justin Bane was named the new Offensive Coordinator for the Buffs. Mike Bethea will work with the linebackers while Adrian Duncan (running backs) and Cole McDowell (tight ends) also joined the offensive staff. Justin Richter was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in January following two seasons as the defensive backs/co-special team coordinator for the Buffs.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
The Buffaloes have been tabbed sixth in the 2025 LSC Preseason Poll announced during the league's annual Media Day in McKinney, Texas.
 
Defending LSC champion Angelo State claimed 23 of the possible 30 first place votes for a total of 292 points to sit atop of the poll followed by Central Washington (four first place, 257), UT Permian Basin (two first place, 229), Texas A&M-Kingsville (one first place, 211), West Texas A&M (157), Midwestern State (139), Eastern New Mexico (88), Western New Mexico (53), Sul Ross State (51).
 
Braden Fuller of Angelo State was named the league's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while UTPB's Tristan Exline was tabbed the LSC Player of the Year accolades.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Thursday night's contest will be broadcasted on FloCollege. The LSC and FloSports reached a historic agreement in August of 2024 for the largest streaming rights deal in NCAA Division II history. Fans have two different subscription options: $19.99 per month or $107.88 per year ($8.99/month). Additionally, those who use an .edu email address from an LSC member institution will be able to sign up at a discounted subscription price of $9.99 per month or $71.88 per year ($5.99/month). 
 
BACK ON THE AIRWAVES
West Texas A&M Athletics announces the return of radio broadcasts for the 2025-26 campaign. 
 
Members of Buff Nation will now be able to listen to Kent Johnson, Lucas Kinsey and Brice Sheets in partnership with Alpha Media. Football pregame begins 30 minutes prior to kickoff. Thursday night's broadcast is available online (GoBuffsGo.com / KGNCNewsNow.com) as well as locally in the Texas Panhandle on 710 AM and 97.5 FM.
 
ON THIS DAY
The Buffs are 0-4 all-time in games played on September 4th.
 
1982 - Abilene Christian - L, 33-29
1999 - Central Arkansas - L, 27-20
2004 - at East Central - L, 13-6
2014 - at CSU Pueblo - L, 35-6
 
THIS IS THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Boasting 83 NCAA national team championships, the LSC is one of the most formidable Division II conferences and tied as the largest in the division. The league, which was founded in 1931 and headquartered in Richardson, Texas, spans three states (Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma). The LSC opens its 94th year of competition this fall and is coming off a successful 2024-25 year with NCAA Division II national championships in women's golf (DBU) and softball (UT Tyler).
 
HERD ELEVATED TO DIRECTOR OF ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
West Texas A&M's Jesse Herd was elevated to the Director of Athletic Performance for the Buffs and Lady Buffs announced last week. The Jacksboro, Texas native is in his second season leading the Sports Performance efforts of Buffalo Football.
 
LSC HALL OF HONOR
West Texas A&M graduate and professional kicker Sergio Castillo has been selected as the 2025 inductee to the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor. 
 
Castillo is the all-time leading scorer in WT football history (437) and holds the LSC career record for most extra points made and attempted (251-for-255). Over his collegiate career from 2011-2013, Castillo connected for 62 field goals – with a long of 56 yards – and had a string of 64 straight extra-point attempts made, which is also a league record. He was a part of the 2012 LSC championship team and helped the Buffs reach the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2012 and national quarterfinals in 2013.
 
HOME OF THE NJCAA DI FOOTBAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium in Canyon serves as the host of the NJCAA Division I Football National Championship Game in 2025, 2026, and 2027. The four-year agreement began last season with Hutchinson CC picking up a 28-23 victory over Iowa Western Community College. The championship is a partnership between West Texas A&M, the Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Canyon Chamber of Commerce.