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KEARNEY - Rustin Dring rushed for 219 yards and the University of Nebraska at Kearney defense sacked Colorado Mines quarterback David Pesek eight times Saturday as the Lopers claimed a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football championship with a 24-12 victory at Foster Field.

The win was the ninth straight for the Lopers (9-1), who are the only undefeated team left in the RMAC. Mines (7-3) was the only other team without a league loss before Saturday.

UNK will end its regular season at Mesa State College Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo.

"At the beginning of two-a-days, we all said our goal was to win the RMAC championship. To finally achieve it is phenomenal," said Dring, who was a workhorse on offense, carrying the ball 30 times and scoring on a 64-yard run in the first half to put the Lopers ahead, 7-3.

"We felt like we had to run the football on them," UNK coach Darrell Morris said. "We wanted to go sideline to sideline. We wanted their defense to chase Rusty Dring and the rest of the guys.

"We felt like we could run them out of gas a little bit, and they did get fatigued. They did get tired and we kind of had our way with them every now and then."

Dring's 64-yard run was one of those plays. He took a delayed pitch from quarterback Jake Spitzlberger and took off.

"We practiced it all week. Whenever it came down all week - when he actually cuts it inside, then bounces it back out - it usually is a touchdown. So I saw him go in there and I kept running behind him and I had a good idea it was going to be six," Dring said.

"Spitzlberger had eight carries for 61 yards and a 25-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown that put the game away. He also completed 12 of 20 passes for 143 yards and a 45-yard touchdown to Kyle Kaiser.

"We put it together today," Spitzlberger said.

His fourth-quarter run came after Mines had cut the lead to 14-12. UNK's Jordan Alegria kicked a 25-yard field goal to answer the Orediggers' touchdown, but a 17-12 lead didn't look safe against Pesek and the Orediggers.

But the Loper offense stayed on the field, finishing with a 9-minute edge in time of possession.

"We definitely had to stop the run first or they never were going to put it in the air, and we never did accomplish that. Rustin and Jake just really had fine games," Mines coach Bob Stitt said.

Spitzlberger's touchdown run with five minutes left, sealed Mines' fate.

"He's the other dimension you have to stop. If you just focus on the running back he's going to yank it out of there and take off with it," Stitt said. "Other teams we've faced haven't run as much option and we just had to stop the running back."

UNK's defensive task was the opposite - stop Pesek's passing. The preseason RMAC Offensive Player of the Year, Pesek completed 25 of 40 passes for 261 yards.

But the eight sacks for a loss of 35 yards played a big part in Mines' total of a negative 10 yards.

"They did a great job with the pressure. They flustered him a little bit," Stitt said.

UNK finished with 14 tackles for losses.

"We were playing lights out today," said defensive tackle Jake Rohde, who had four tackles for losses, including 1 ½ sacks. "We made plays when we needed to. We got off the field when we needed to. We knew the game plan and everybody executed when we needed to."