Show r Wednesday December 8 2004 Sanpete r'? H"fr yriyprirBeg yf fwyvyyirr-- All Valley Edition Messenger-Gunniso- n fV'ftyyyy Snow swats Yellow Jackets 45-- 7 Snow's defense shuts out Rochester offense in inaugural Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic By Brad Barton Staff writer SALT LAKE CITY— According to Snow College president Michael Benson college football in its purest form is one “of the greatest spectacles in all of sports” At the Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic in Salt Lake City last Saturday the Snow College Badgers did their best to put on a spectacle in their rout of the 11th ranked Rochester MN Yellow Jackets The Badger defense which had only allowed 15 points per game during the regular season was in top form and shut out the Yellow Jackets and Snow’s special teams blocked a punt and field goal attempt Deondrick Nunez blocked a punt that cornerback Jason Strieff returned 31 yards for Bada touchdown and a ger lead after one period of play Early in the third quar- - Snow 28 Rochester 21 ter Nunez blocked a field goal attempt which was returned for a touchdown by Badger Cole Hall But the Badgers’ offense was not idle either Success Inaugural Top of the Mountains Bowl declared a success By Sean Hales Staff writer i r SALT LAKE CITY— The Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic could be here to stay if the success of the inaugural game held last Saturday in Salt Lake City is any indication “We’re elated with the entire event” said Rick Pike executive director of the Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic But the success of the bowl game could be hard to measure All proceeds from the game go to the Snow College general scholarship fund but that fund has no specific revenue goals “We’re not trying to make money” said Pike about the event Pike said he had tenuous attendance goals of about 2000 but the number of spectators at the game fell short by about 300 But he’s not wor came early and often starting with a dash by Snow running back Landon Beus w hich lead gave Snow a Throughout the second quarter as Snow’s defense stifled continually Rochester’s offense Badgers Todd Daniels and Brett Sandall each scored touchdowns Snow’s kicker Joey Mack added a field goal and wide receiver Aaron Straiten touchhauled in a down pass for Snow’s final score of 45 Rochester’s only score of the game was produced by the Yellow Jacket’s defense when a Badger pass was picked off and returned for the score Snow was College unranked in the NJCAA going into the bowl game but after the final whistle the championship trophy was presented to the Badgers while Head PHOTO COURTESY AUGUST MILLER DESERET Coach Jeff Kilts received a chilly Gatorade shower from Badgers hoist the Top of the Mountains Bowl trophy as champions of his players event The Snow College Badgers beat the Rochester Yellow Jackets ter” Another goal of the bowl was to raise awareness about the college Pike reported that Utah’s three major television stations were present and game highlights were broadcast on the news game Also Utah’s two largest newsThe Deseret Morning and Salt Lake Tribune covered the event papers News Although more people are now aware of Snow’s existthere are no set goals for rises in school attendance or ence applications At a press conference last April where Zions Bank announced its sponsorship of the bowl game Snow College president Michael Benson (See “Bowl success” on A 12) PHOTO COURTESY By John Hales and Gary Chidester By Sean Hales RICHFIELD — Last year senior leader Jake Hill wasn’t valuable to the Gunnison Bulldogs because he could score points in a game He was valuable because you could depend Sports writer EPHRAIM— Until last weekend the Snow College men’s basketball team boasted a perfect win record a month into the season So it was disappointing to the loss SatBadgers when an urday to the College of Southern Idaho — Snow’s first game in con- - munity College and Hill Air Force Base Com- against Trinidad State Junior College and Casper a second time (8653) a him to score that many points — every game In two games last week over Parowan and a losing effort to South Summit a young Bulldog team showed that what they lack is a consistent leader DESERET MORNING NEWS offense and kept ing to Hill “We came back out and got ahead of them They could never come back” However Bulldog Wayne Young who scored 22 points against North Summit the week before only produced four points against Parowan Gunnison’s high scorer at Parowan was J D Pay who scored 0 Likewise in Saturday 's contest against South Summit at the Sev icr Valley Center in Richfield Young only produced 6 points but Pay was absent from the scor- - (Set “Bulldogs” on A 13) Templars after a chilly start to season 93 Other opponents Snow has overcome so far this season include Westminster College tw ice and Snow “We’ve had a good on 85 against Casper College against Western Wyoming MILLER Inexperienced Gunnison team splits two games looking for consistency Staff writer ference play — put them in fifth place in the Scenic Mountain West Conference standings In the first nine games of the season Snow decidedly beat every opponent sometimes with impressive win margins such as AUGUST Two Snow defenders bring down a Yellow Jacket Snow’s defense took the sting from Rochester’s them out of the end zone The only Rochester score came after an interception drops one (finally) to CSI Idaho NEWS the inaugural ried “I believe we can get 5000 there at the game with a little better organization” and he added “Next year’s game will be bigger and bet- Snow men’s basketball ©Snow MORNING By Craig Cook Staff writer BRUCE VAN DER RIET MESSENGER PHOTO Snow Badger Brandon Sholly is taken down by Nick Hansen of College of Southern Idaho en route to a CSI victory It was the Badger's first loss of the season son” said Badger head coach Jon Judkins “We went and we haven’t played easy teams" As an example he gives Snow’s against the North Dakota State College of Science at the Casper College Tournament overThanksgiv ing weekend “North Dakota State is always in the top 25 nationally and we beat them by almost 20 points” Judkins said However last Saturday’s defeat didn’t de flate him although lie (See “Badgers” on A 3) RICHFIELD— Maybe the temperatures caused tlie Manti Templars basketball team to start the season out cold as they fell to Juab and Juan Diego last week before inning their first game of the last Satagainst Grand urday at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield The Templars hosted the Juab w Wasps last Wednesday With less than three minutes left in the first tended their lead to by the end ol the first hall M anti head coach Mark lugentobler either fixed the game plan or gave a great halftime speech because what looked to be turning into a blowout turned into a game The Templars picked up their defense and controlled the ball better improving on their 30 percent fust half shooting Mthoiigh the kmplus weie unable to c lose the gap the Wasps’ (see “Templars on A12) |