Ephraim, Ut. — OPENING KICK OFF: The Snow College Badgers will begin their 2022 season in a home matchup against Trinity Valley Community College Thursday in Ephraim.
Snow College begins the season after coming off a 7-1 2021 campaign, a season in which three matches were canceled. The Badgers made the most of their eight other matches in which they went 4-1 inside their home stadium and 3-0 on the road.
"We have high expectations of our guys," head coach Zac Erekson said. "Our expectation is to be playing in Little Rock at the end of the season. We have had a really good camp. We have a ton of depth at multiple positions. We return all four wide receivers from last season and our running back room is as good as I've ever seen it."
The Badgers are lead by Erekson, who is in his third season at the helm. During his tenure, Erekson has lead Snow College to a 15-3 overall record including a trip to the NJCAA Division I National Championship game in which the Badgers suffered a 29-27 defeat to number one ranked Hutchinson.
BY THE NUMBERS: Snow College controlled both sides of the ball last season. Offensively, the Badgers put up potent numbers and averaged just over 54 points per game last season, including 85 and 84 point outbursts against Gordon's Fine Arts and Sports Academy and McDougle Technical Institute, respectively.
"We expect to score points and be efficient," Erekson said. "We had good games against quality teams last year, and we hope to do the same this year. It's doable, but we have such high quality competition this year that it might not be quite like last year. I would put [this year's schedule] up against any other JUCO schedule this season. We are playing a national powerhouse schedule."
The Badgers were nearly as dominant defensively as they were offensively as they put together two shutouts against GFASA and Gila River and another game against ASA College (Miami) where they only allowed a field goal. In all, Snow College's defense allowed just 11.6 points per game last season.
"Whenever you have to replace the defensive player of the year in Keionte Scott, it's difficult," Erekson said. "We are returning All-American Austin Francis, which will help, and the defensive line has a chance to be the best we've ever had."
In total, Snow College will return 12 starters from last season, seven on offense and five on defense.
KNOW YOUR FOE: Snow College will take on Trinity Valley Community College Thursday in Ephraim. The Cardinals had quite literally an up-and-down season in 2021. TVCC began the season winning each of its first five contests but then finished the year on a 4-game losing streak to end the season with a 5-4 record.
The Cardinals will have a new signal caller on offense this season as all three quarterbacks, who accounted for nearly 92 percent of pass attempts last season, are no longer with the team. TVCC will come to town after averaging 455 yards of total offense per game last season including 145 yards per game on the ground.
"[TVCC] has the potential to be as good as any team in the country," Erekson said. "They got off to a great start last season before getting some tough breaks late in the year. We need to be ready for them because we will be tested."
Snow College has only faced the Cardinals one time in the past —a game that was played on the road in Athens, Texas in 2018. The Badgers came away with the victory in that contest 56-43 and will look to continue the trend Thursday.
"We want to be able to take care of the football and be able to force a few turnovers of our own," Erekson said. "If we can dominate the line of scrimmage like I think we are capable of and play disciplined football without committing penalties, I think we have a good shot.
The Badgers will kick off the season Thursday night under the lights inside Terry Foote Stadium. Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m. For tickets and streaming information, visit snowbadgers.com.
COACHING STAFF: Zac Erekson (Brigham Young University, 2007: 30-18 overall record) is entering his third season at Snow College (15-3), 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.), ASA College (Miami) (10/15; 7 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 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 tests will come against No. 1 New Mexico Military Institute and No. 2 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 years semi-final game 30-29 in overtime and finished the season 10-1 with its lone loss coming at the hands of the Broncos.
UP NEXT: The Badgers will head out for their first road game of the season against New Mexico Military Institute Saturday, September 3 at 4 p.m.
Snow College has matched up with NMMI five times dating back to 2011. The Badgers have mostly controlled the matchup going 4-1 in those meetings with their most recent victory coming in 2015 when they defeated the Broncos 38-37. Snow College's largest margin of victory came on October 4, 2014 in a 51-3 win. The Badgers only loss came in a 23-20 overtime loss on September 28, 2018.
