BADGERS WIN IN
OFFENSIVE SHOWDOWN
by Adam Mason

Badgers Win Conference Opener

Roswell, New Mexico-The Snow College Badgers opened up conference play on Saturday with a come from behind victory over the New Mexico Military Broncos 64-54.

Snow College has not lost a conference game in over three years, but found that streak in jeopardy when they were down 51-35 in the third quarter. Snow bounced back, however, and scored four touchdowns the rest of the way, while the defense held the Broncos to only a field goal the rest of the way.

“This shows the character of our team,” said head coach Steve Coburn. “This is really a tough place to play. New Mexico’s coach has this team heading in the right direction.”

The Badgers came out with some early offense. On the first offensive play of the game for the Badgers, sophomore quarterback Quinn Mecham (Timpview High School) connected on a 36 yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Dontrae Williams (Cyprus High School) not even a minute into the game. The Badgers found themselves up 21-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Snow faced a tough offense option team that ran for nearly 271 yards and had 442 yards in total offense. Snow watched their lead dwindle quickly in the second quarter and went into halftime down 37-35, only to watch the Broncos add to that lead in third quarter.

“I used to be a defensive coordinator and had to prepare for this team,” Coburn said. “I know what Coach Decol is going through to try and stop this offense, it’s tough.”

The Badgers were led by Mecham, who completed 11 of his 21 passes while throwing five touchdown receptions and ran for 39 yards and had one rushing touchdown at the end of the game. Sophomore running back Tyson Church (North Sanpete High School) ran for 194 yards and had two touchdowns to help lead the Badger offense.

“Quinn had to come over a lot of adversity with all the sacks, fumble, and interception in the game,” Coburn said. “He is a gutty player, very intellectual and a great team leader.”

 The turning point in the game was the beginning of the fourth quarter when Snow kicked an onside kick and recovered it at its own 46 yard line being down 54-49. Then Snow marched down the field and faced a fourth down with three yards to go. Quinn Mecham (Timpview High School) completed a pass to Dontrae Williams for a first down and capped off the drive with Tyson Church rushing for a touchdown to put the Badgers up 57-54 after Snow went for two on the PAT.

“We’d been wanting to run that onside kick all game,” Coburn said. “We just wanted to wait until the defense got on track because we didn’t want to give them good field position.”

Snow improves to 3-1 on the season and now 1-0 in conference play. They will not get to rest long as they return home next Saturday for another conference game against the Glendale Gauchos.