DEFENSE TRUMPS VAUNTED OFFENSE IN SNOW’S VICTORY
by Rick Pike

Tough Coffeyville Red Ravens Defense

Snow College’s defense came up with the biggest plays of the game in the Top of the Mountains Bowl on Saturday, as the offense struggled to get on track against a tough Coffeyville Red Ravens defense.

Two defensive plays stymied two Coffeyville fourth-quarter drives to guarantee the Badger win, 26-21, in the third Top of the Mountains Bowl at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

With just over two minutes remaining Coffeyville quarterback, Bryan Savage, brought the Red Ravens to the line of scrimmage on four-and-three at mid-field. Savage rolled to his right looking for a receiver and found no one open so he tried to beat the Badger defense to the sideline first down marker. Snow forced him out of bounds at least a yard short.

But all wasn’t lost for Coffeyville. Inexplicably, Snow College’s backup quarterback, Steven Vincent, lofted a pass for the end zone into double-coverage with 40 seconds remaining. The Red Ravens had used all of their timeouts so Snow could have easily run out the clock. The Red Ravens knocked the ball to the turf and then recovered a Badger fumble on fourth down for a final try at victory.

On first down, Savage completed a pass to midfield. On second down, a pass fell incomplete. With just 20 seconds remaining, Savage went back to pass but was swallowed up by a blitzing Badgers defense.

“We knew we couldn’t give him time,” said Steve Coburn, Snow’s head coach. “We had to get pressure and it worked.”

Snow College held Coffeyville to just 159 yards in the first, second and fourth quarters. The Badger offense scored the first touchdown of the game on its second possession when Cade Cooper found Devin Frischknecht for a six-yard touchdown. Coffeyville answered early in the second quarter with a 55-yard bomb from Savage to Deon Murphy.

Snow’s offense then sputtered as highly-recruited running back, Matt Asiata, struggled to hold on to the ball. Asiata fumbled twice – losing one at midfield. Two other balls were jarred lose from Asiata but officials ruled him down.

“We had numerous balls on the ground,” said Jeff Leiker, Coffeyville’s head coach. “We just didn’t get a break on one of those.”

Late in the second half, Snow appeared to take over the game. With Asiata on the bench, Colt Mund ran for most of his 66 yards during a drive ending with a Mund 12-yard touchdown. The point after attempt failed. On the ensuing drive, with twenty-eight seconds remaining to halftime, Cooper found Frischknecht for a 14-yard touchdown. Snow’s lead was 20-7.

But the Red Ravens dominated the third quarter, racking up 171 yards and two touchdowns to lead 21-20 as the fourth quarter began. The Badgers kept seeing Red – as in two Red Ravens running backs Nate Guillory and Tyrone Wilson. Wilson ran six times for 42 yards on Coffeyville’s opening drive of the third quarter that culminated with a Savage 17-yard touchdown pass to Deon Murphy.

Guillory did most of the work on the next drive that finished with Savage finding Donte Rogers from 19 yards out. The Red Ravens had come from behind for a 21-20 lead and quieted a mostly partisan crowd.

Snow came right back. As the third quarter was winding down, the Badgers had picked up a couple of first downs, entered Red Ravens territory and faced a fourth-and-three. Cooper rolled to his left and decided to keep the ball. As Cooper slid at the first down marker along the sideline, a Red Raven collided with him helmet-to-helmet. What may or may not have been a first down resulted in a late hit penalty and first down for Snow. Unfortunately, Cooper was down for 10 minutes – three of them out cold. Cooper finally stood and was helped off of the playing field but didn’t return.

“It took a lot to get my senses back,” Cooper said. “I didn’t see what happened and I don’t remember what happened on the play.”

Enter Vincent, a back-up freshman who played at the end of several Badger blowouts this season but never any meaningful minutes.

Asiata carried the ball a number of times, reaching the nine-yard-line as the third quarter ended. From there, Vincent found Frischknecht for a nine-yard touchdown but failed to complete a pass for a two-point conversion. Snow led by the final margin 26-21.

“I wasn’t expecting to play today,” remarked Vincent. “Cade has taught me everything I know and coming in cold and helping the team was fun.”

Cooper finished 14-24 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Vincent was 3 of 8 for 38 yards and a touchdown. Frischknecht, Snow’s most valuable player in the game, finished with nine catches for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Asiata overcame fumblitis to carry the ball 30 times for 126 yards. Snow finishes the year 11-1.

Coffeyville’s Savage finished 8-17 for 139 yards. Murphy, Coffeyville’s most valuable player, caught four balls for 89 yards and two touchdowns. The Red Ravens finish the season 7-4 with all losses coming to NJCAA Top 20 teams – Blinn, Snow, Butler and Ft. Scott.

The Snow College games can be heard locally on KMTI-Am 650 and right here on SnowBadgers.com