OPENING KICKOFF: Coming off its fifth victory of the season, the Snow College football team will travel to Colorado to take on US Air Force Academy Preparatory School Friday.
The Badgers defeated Garden City Community College 23-20 in Saturday's homecoming game. The 23 points the Badgers scored are the lowest the point total the Badgers have scored in a win this season. The win comes off a 26-0 loss against No. 3 Iowa Western Community College October 8. The shutout loss to the Reivers was the first shutout the Badgers suffered in over a decade.
The Badgers earned the victory against the Broncbusters despite turning the ball over five times. Snow College has turned the ball over 17 times in its previous three games including a seven-turnover game last week against IWCC. The Badgers also lost a muffed punt in the game against the Reivers.
With the victory, the Badgers moved up to No. 7 in the NJCAA Division I football rankings. This comes a week after falling to No. 9 after the loss to IWCC. Snow College sits ahead of Trinity Valley Community College and Georgia Military College but are one slot behind Butler Community College, who they beat September 10. The Badgers would need to be inside the top four teams in order to make the NJCAA playoffs.
KNOW YOUR FOE: the Panthers currently own a 3-0 record to begin the 2022 season. This comes off a 2021 campaign that saw USAFPA go 2-2. The Panthers are coached by Steve Pipes, who is in his third season as head coach. He sports a 5-3 overall record at the helm at USAFPA.
Snow College faced the Panthers in a matchup September 7, 2019, that saw the Badgers earn a 31-16 victory in Ephraim. Snow College briefly trailed in that game as they were down 16-14 at the halftime break. The Badgers defense shut out the Panthers in the second half, however, as the offense was able to catch up and score three times to earn the victory.
LAST TIME OUT: The Snow College football team defeated Garden City Community College 23-20 Saturday to earn its fifth victory of the season.
The No. 9 Badgers entered the matchup with the Broncbusters coming off a tough defeat at the hands of No. 3 Iowa Western Community College. The 26-0 loss was the Badgers first time being shut out in over a decade. Snow College committed seven turnovers and had a muffed punt recovered by the Reivers that led to the Badgers downfall.
Things started out how then ended last week against IWCC. After forcing a 3-and-out, quarterback
Daisean Cash threw an interception on the third play of the drive to give the Broncbusters the ball right back.
This same series would repeat itself immediately as GCCC punted after being unable to gain a first down, and Cash threw his second interception of the game, which set the Broncbusters up inside the Badgers 5-yard line. Despite a few penalties that backed them up to the 16-yard line, they would eventually punch it in to take a 7-0 lead.
The Badgers went scoreless throughout the first quarter but capitalized off a GCCC turnover on downs. The turnover came as the Broncbusters went for it on fourth down to try and cap a 12-play, 96-yard drive. The Snow College defense held firm and regained the ball at their own 3-yard line.
Two big plays helped cap off a 4-play, 97-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown. Cash found
Dionte Davis for 35 yards on the first play of the drive. Three plays later, Cash faced pressure from the Broncbusters pass rush and as the pocket collapsed completed a pass to
Duece Roberson who shook one would-be tackler on his way to the end zone.
The Badgers then elected to go for two. They set up a formation that sent seven players to the sideline leaving
Devin Claridge the snapper,
Taylor Larsen the holder, and
Jackson Walker the place kicker in the center of the field with
Marquis Montgomery flanked out to the other side of the field. The snap went to Larsen who angled to the right, as he was about to be swarmed by Broncbusters, he pitched it to Walker who went in untouched for the conversion giving Snow College an 8-7 lead which it would take into the halftime break.
The Badgers turned the ball over on downs on their first possession of the third quarter but forced a punt to get the ball back. They then proceeded to go on an 18-play, 79-yard drive that took over eight minutes off the game clock. The Badgers were unable to score, however, and turned the ball over on downs yet again at the 1-yard line. Two plays later,
John Taumoepeau forced a fumble which was recovered by Snow's
Kini Vunipola at the 2-yard line.
Targhee Lambson punch it in from there on the next play. Snow College again went for two and was successful on a rush by
Dallin Bentley extending the lead to 16-7.
Lambson would find the end zone again a few minutes later on a 1-yard rush with under nine minutes to play. The Broncbusters would not go down quietly, however. They responded on the next drive scoring in just over two minutes to cut the lead to 23-13 after a failed 2-point conversion.
The Broncbusters got the ball back after forcing a turnover on downs. GCCC quarterback Ty Perry threw an interception on the first play of the drive, but it was called back on an offsides penalty on the Badgers giving the Broncbusters new life. They proceeded to move the ball down the field and score with just 59 seconds left to cut the lead to 23-20.
The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Badgers who sealed the victory after three kneel downs giving them their fifth victory of the season.
Cash finished the day going 11 for 23 for 188 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Rahsul Faison surpassed the century mark on the ground as he rushed for 102 yards. Lambson gained 51 yards and scored two touchdowns on the ground. Roberson caught six passes totaling 130 yards and a touchdown to aid in the victory.
The Badgers outgained the Broncbusters, 373-302, while also dominating time of possession. The Badgers gained 185 yards on the ground on 53 attempts. Snow College thrived in third down situations both offensively and defensively. The converted on 8 of their 17 third downs, whole limiting GCCC to 3 for 16 defensively.
COACHING STAFF: Zac Erekson (Brigham Young University, 2007: 34-19 overall record) is entering his third season at Snow College (19-4), second as the head football coach and his 13th year overall in coaching. In Erekson's first season as Head Football Coach he led the Badgers to an 8-0 regular season finish and a trip to the National Championship game. Prior to coming to Snow College, Erekson served as the athletics director and head coach at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City. Before his tenure at Skyline, Erekson coached high school football throughout Texas for 8 years. Erekson coached at 5A Abilene Cooper in Abilene, TX where his team went 12-2 in 2011.
Erekson is joined on the sidelines by Defensive Coordinator
Jordan Pulou (Missouri S&T; 1st season), Special Teams and Wide Receivers coach
James Dye (Brigham Young University; 1st season), Defensive Backs coach
Dustin Pressley (Arkansas Monticello; 1st season), Offensive Line coach
Trever McFalls (Southern Utah University; 1st season), Running Backs coach
Ryan You (Arizona State; 4th season), Defensive Line coach
Kyle Murray (Dixie State; 1st season), and Linbackers coach
Devon McKinney (Louisiana Tech; 1st season).
BREAKING DOWN THE SCHEDULE: Snow College will play a total of 11 games this season including six home games and five road games. The Badgers will play host to Trinity Valley Community College (8/25; 7 p.m.), Gila River Community College (9/17; 7 p.m.), Georgia Military College (10/1; 1 p.m.), Garden City Community College (10/15; 1 p.m.), Community Christian (Detroit) (10/29; 7 p.m.), and Monroe College (11/12; 12 p.m.), while playing road games against New Mexico Military Institute (9/3; 4 p.m.), Butler Community College (9/10; 1:30 p.m.), Iowa Western Community College (10/8; 12 p.m.), Us Air Force Academy Preparatory School (10/21; 1 p.m.), and Lackawanna College (11/19; 11 a.m.).
The Badgers biggest test came against No. 1 New Mexico Military Institute. The Badgers suffered a 38-7 loss. Snow College also faced off against No. 3 Iowa Western Community College, both of which were in the NJCAA national title game last season. The reigning national champion New Mexico Military Institute Broncos finished the season 12-1 and culminated the season defeating IWCC 31-13 in the National Title game. IWCC defeated Snow College in last year's semi-final game 30-29 in overtime and finished the season 10-1 with its lone loss coming at the hands of the Broncos.
Snow College will also face two other opponents currently ranked inside the NJCAA DI top 15 and another who recently fell out of the top 15 but received votes in the lates poll. In addition to facing No 1. NMMI, and No. 2 IWCC, and No. 10 GMC, the Badgers will also take on No. 13 Lackawanna College November 19. The Badger will also take on Monroe College, who boasted a preseason ranking of 13. As mentioned earlier, TVCC was not ranked during their meeting, but now sit at No. 8 in the current rankings.
UP NEXT: Snow College was originally scheduled to host Community Christian (Detroit) Saturday, but that game has since been cancelled. The Badgers are looking to find a new opponent for that date, but do not have a game scheduled. Snow College's next matchup will be November 12 at 12:00 p.m. against Monroe College inside Terry Foote Stadium in Ephraim. For updates about potential rescheduling for October 29, visit snowbadgers.com.
