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EPHRAIM -- The No. 16 Snow College Badgers defeated the No. 6 Glendale Community College Gauchos on Saturday 44-7.
The Badgers created 517 yards of total offense against a team that had allowed only 14.2 points and 198 yards per game.
"The coaches prepared us well," said Snow running back Travis Zacharie, who ran for three touchdowns. "Our offensive line did awesome and the fullback did an awesome job tonight blocking for me."
"Obviously the running backs stepped up and played a big game for us," said Head Coach Steve Colburn. "Our guys executed the game plan very well the way we were running the ball with the one two punch of "T-Zac" (Zacharie) and Matt Wright."
Zacharie and Wright combined for 259 yards on the ground. Zacharie put the Badgers on the board early with a 15-yard touchdown run less than six minutes into the game.
The running game helped set up the passing attack with Adam Eastman under center. He completed 16 of 27 passes with two touchdowns and one interception.
Eastman's favorite target again proved to be Matt Putnam who received four passes for 89 yards. Tyler Rawlings and Nick Brown each caught the touchdowns for Snow.
Snow performed well on both sides of the ball allowing Glendale only 10 first downs. Glendale converted three of 12 attempts on third down.
"Credit goes to our preparation early in the week," said Preston Hadley, Snow's defensive captain. "The game starts on Monday. We knew this was a big game so I think we just showed up."
Hadley led the team with eight tackles.
"We took the run away from them," said Colburn. "We made them a one dimensional team, once we got rolling it was fun."
Snow was consistent at stopping Glendale, but came out of the game with only one take away. Brayden Stembridge made an interception and returned it 51 yards to the Glendale twenty leaving the offense in great field position.
Alex Sweat made three of four field goals and all five extra points he attempted. Every time Snow entered the red zone they came away with at least a field goal.
Throughout the game Snow kept pressure on Glendale's quarterback, Kevin Yost. Yost threw for just 109 yards compared to his average 214.
He was also sacked a handful of times finishing the game with -10 rushing yards. The attack upfront was led by Robert Atiga who had four solo tackles.
With the win Snow is 4-0 in conference play. The Badgers will play this Saturday at home against Scottsdale Community College another conference championship contender.
One side note: Arguably the most successful team in Snow's history, the 1985 national championship team, was honored at halftime and proved to be a motivator for the current Badgers.
"We were able to go to the alumni banquet, a few of us players, and we saw how much Snow College meant to them," said Hadley. "We didn't want to let them down we wanted to keep up the Badger tradition."