Box Score EPHRAIM, Utah — The Snow College Badgers mounted a furious comeback attempt Saturday against Scottsdale Community College, ultimately falling short by about a half yard against the defending Western States Football League champions. Scottsdale scored midway through the third period to make the score 34-7 before Snow scored three touchdowns, one in the third period and two in the fourth, to turn a blowout into a barnburner. The loss drops Snow from the ranks of the undefeated by a final score of 34-28.
Tied at seven at the end of the first quarter, Scottsdale scored first on a five-yard Michael Sanders to Thaddeous Thompson pass with Snow answering on a 17-yard
Alex Kuresa to Arlonzo Simpson touchdown pass. It would be the first of five TD's on the day for Sanders and four for Kuresa.
The second quarter was all Scottsdale as the Artichokes scored on three more Sanders aerials when he hit Najee Jacobs from five yards out, Za'Quan Summers from eight yards and Callen Hightower 33 yards. When Sanders hit Julian Navarrette for a one-yard score to make it 34-7 on Scottsdale's first possession of the second half, things got very quiet in Badger Stadium.
But that's when Snow finally got untracked. The Badgers followed the Artichokes' last score with a 14-play, 75-yard drive which ended with
Jonah Trinnaman scoring on a one-yard shuttle pass from Kuresa to pull Snow to within 20 points. Scottsdale got the ball back with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter, but was stuffed by a rejuvenated Badger defense which forced a three-and-out to give the ball back to Kuresa and crew near midfield.
Just 13 seconds into the final period,
Stephen Shepard took a 14-yard pass to pay dirt, and
Conner McRae's extra point pulled the Badgers to within 13. After the teams traded punts, Scottsdale drove into Snow territory and looked like it was going to stretch the lead back to something insurmountable. But Snow's freshman linebacker
Gaje Ferguson picked off Sanders in the end zone to put the Badgers back into business. On a fourth and seven at their own 33-yard line, the Badgers pulled a rabbit out of the hat when Arlonzo Simpson got free for a 67-yard strike from Kuresa, and suddenly the Badgers were within six points at 34-28 with 6:20 remaining.
Following the kickoff, the Badger defense gave up one first down and then held, forcing the Artichokes to punt from near midfield. Taking over at their own 35 with under three minutes on the clock and only one timeout, Snow moved the ball swiftly down field, getting to the Scottsdale 10-yard line with under a minute to go and used their last time out.
Three Badger plays moved the ball closer to a tying score, but the Artichoke line held twice within the five. Facing fourth down from the one with only seconds left, Kuresa headed up the middle where he was stuffed by Scottsdale's Keith McNeil who knocked the ball loose for his teammate Cloves Campbell to fall on at the three to silence the now-raucous Badger crowd. Sanders had to take a knee once to run out the clock and preserve Scottsdale's 34-28 win.
Both Snow and Scottsdale are now 2-1 in league action, a half-game behind Arizona Western and Glendale who sit atop the WSFL standings at 3-1. Mesa and New Mexico Military are right behind at 2-2 to make a real logjam at the top. Snow will travel to Glendale this Saturday while Scottsdale travels to New Mexico Military and Arizona Western visits Phoenix College.
