OPENING KICKOFF: The nation's top offense and top defense collide as No. 6 Snow College hosts No. 10 Georgia Military College in Ephraim Saturday. The contest will be featured as the ESPN+ NJCAA Game of the Week.
The Badgers, who are leading the nation in scoring, enter the matchup with a 3-1 overall record on the season with their only loss coming against No. 1 New Mexico Military Institute. Snow College is currently riding a two-game winning streak after defeating No. 8 Butler Community College 50-49 in overtime and Gila River Junior College 85-0.
Saturday's game will be the Badger's third matchup against a ranked opponent this season. Head Coach Zac Erekson is 4-4 against ranked opponents in his tenure at the helm at Snow College. Snow College defeated Trinity Valley Community College in the first game of the season. The Cardinals weren't ranked at the time but have recently vaulted into the top 15 and are currently ranked 14th in the NJCAA Division I Football Rankings.
The top-10 matchup is slated for kickoff starting at 1 p.m. inside Terry Foote Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. It can also be heard on KMTI 650 AM. For live stats, visit snowbadgers.com.
BYE BYE BADGER: Both Snow College and GMC are coming off weeks in which they had a bye. This is the first of two byes the Badgers will have this season with the second one coming in week 11.
Erekson has a 2-0 record at Snow College coming off a bye including a victory against the Bulldogs last October. The Badgers also defeated Lackawanna College 51-28 coming off a bye last season. Snow College will have another bye in week 11 before a matchup against Monroe College.
KNOW YOUR FOE: The Bulldogs enter the matchup with a perfect 4-0 record. The have pitched two shutouts against Georgia Christian College (54-0) and ASA College of Miami (39-0). Their other two victories have come against Monroe College (27-7) and Lackawanna College (34-12).
GMC boasts the nation's top defense allowing just 4.8 points per game this season. The Bulldogs are also third in the country in total yards allowed per game, third in rush yards allowed per game, ninth in pass yards allowed per game, eighth in sacks, and sixth in interceptions.
Offensively, the Bulldogs are putting up 38.5 points per game, good for ninth in the NJCAA. While GMC is putting up a lot of points, they are only 21st in yards per game with 322.0. In comparison, Snow College is putting up 44.5 points per game, which is leading the nation, and 407 yards per game, good for eighth.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 2021 season that saw them go 6-5. GMC lost its first game of the season before winning six of seven heading into November. The Bulldogs only loss during that stretch was against Snow College in a 49-17 loss in Milledgeville, GA October 2. GMC lost its final three games of the season averaging just 16 points per game during that stretch.
LAST TIME OUT: Snow College exploded for 85 points in a shutout victory against Gila River Junior College Saturday night inside Terry Foote Stadium. The 85-0 victory was the Badgers first shutout of the season and tied for the highest point total in the era of Head Coach Zac Erekson.
Snow College also won a game 85-0 last season over Gordon's Fine Arts and Sports Academy. Saturday's game would hold much of the same as the Badgers cruised to a win.
Snow College scored 65 first-half points – 28 in the first quarter and 37 in the second quarter – the most points in the first two quarters ever scored under Erekson. The shutout was also welcomed by the Badgers defense after allowing 49 and 38 points in their last two games, respectively.
Snow College needed just three offensive plays to take a 14-0 lead over the Hawks. Carsen Manookin took the second play from scrimmage 51 yards to the end zone. 50 seconds later, on the first play of the drive, Rahsul Faison punched one in from 21 yards out, and the Badgers were up two touchdowns just 80 seconds into the game.
Elijah Ervin and Marquis Montgomery got in on the scoring later in the first quarter. Both scored on jet sweeps, Ervin's a 9-yard rush and Montgomery's a 4-yard rush. Snow College would take a 28-0 lead into the second quarter where Beau Hall would proceed to score from 35 yards out.
The Badgers would score five more times before the end of the second quarter. A pair of 1-yard plays gave Snow College a 49-0 lead – a pass from Tommy McGrath to Dionte Davis, and a rush by Jaylen Thompson.
McGrath would find Solo Piutau for a 14-yard pitch and catch followed by a pick-6 by Bostros Alisandro. The second quarter was capped off on a GRJC punt. With the Hawks punter standing at the back of his own end zone, the snap went over his head and out of the back of the end zone for a safety, giving the Badgers a 65-0 lead at the halftime break.
Snow College would add three more tallies before the night was over, all on rushes. Adam Johnson would score on a 43-yard rush, while Matt Smith and Hall would find the end zone from six and two yards, respectively.
In all, the Badgers scored 11 offensive touchdowns, one defensive touchdown, and a safety. Bradford Willis and Jackson Walker each contributed in the dominant offensive performance going 11-12 on PAT's with the only miss coming on a bad snap.
Snow College led in virtually every offensive category en route to the 85-0 victory. The Badgers racked up 530 yards of total offense with an astounding 381 yards on the ground on 46 attempts for an average 8.3 yards per attempt. They had a total of 30 first downs compared to just nine for the Hawks.
Badger quarterbacks Daisean Cash and McGrath combined to have just four incomplete passes the entire night going 11-14 with one interception. Cash finished 4-4 for 66 yards while McGrath went 7-10 for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
Snow College had two 100-yard rushers in the game. Thompson totaled 107 yards on 18 carries while Hall surpassed the century mark running for 102 yards on 12 carries. Manookin had 66 yards on the ground on three carries, while Johnson scampered for 60 yards also on three carries.
COACHING STAFF: Zac Erekson (Brigham Young University, 2007: 30-18 overall record) is entering his third season at Snow College (17-4), 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.), 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; 1:30 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 will also face off against 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 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. 11 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. 14 in the current rankings.
UP NEXT: Snow College will head out onto the road for what projects to be one of the most anticipated games of the NJCAA season. The Badgers will travel to Council Bluffs, IA to take on Iowa Western Community College in a rematch from last year's thrilling NJCAA National semi-final game.
The No. 2 Reivers defeated the Badgers last season in a 30-29 overtime victory to claim a berth into the national title game where they eventually lost to NMMI 31-13.
The Reivers are currently 4-0 on the season and have only allowed 20 points defensively all year. They have earned victories over Dodge City Community College (46-0), Garden City Community College (43-13), Highland Community College (24-7), and Ellsworth Community College (52-0). The 2021 semi-final rematch is scheduled to take place Saturday, October 8, at 12 p.m. MST inside Titan Stadium. For audio and video streaming and live stat information, visit snowbadgers.com.
