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Show A8 Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition Wednesday, December 6, 2006 Bulldogs get needed experience in losses at preseason tourney By Sean Hales Associate editor A dime a dozen The Snow College Badgers joined the elite ranks of bowl championship football teams last Saturday. Well, maybe not elite. After all, these days getting a berth in a bowl game is about as easy as catching some flu, cold or other malady from the rides at a county fair. Let’s not take anything away from the Badgers; they won a tough game against a tough opponent, but what did it really prove? The Badgers will make it to the Zions Bank Top of the Mountains Bowl as long as they have a record of 6-4, just more than 50 percent. That means they will make the bowl as long as they’re a little bit better than mediocre. Maybe they should call it the Zions Bank Base Camp Bowl. The NJCAA sanctioned eight bowl games, four of which featured at least one team that was not even ranked in the top 10. The Graphics Edge Bowl in Cedar Falls, Iowa had two games featuring no team higher than 12th in the NJCAA poll. Now there’s a bowl game with meaning. The stated purpose of the Zions Top of the Mountains Bowl is not necessarily to provide a top-notch football experience. It is to showcase the Badger football program. Luckily this year’s game was a great contest, but does anybody remember Rochester? And it’s not much different in the NCAA. The University of Utah football team is playing in the Armed Forces Bowl with a record of 7-5, once again, just a little better than mediocre. See, here’s how the bowl system basically works: a school wants to ensure that its team has a shot at a bowl berth, so the school gets a sponsor corporation to front the capital (Zions Bank, for example), then gets the NJCAA or NCAA to sanction the event and, voila, bowl game. But I don’t necessarily fault the schools. Especially in the junior college ranks. The only input the NJCAA seems to have is making rules and issuing polls. I say, let’s make bowl games worth something again. Let’s have the NJCAA get involved. Let’s have four bowl games at which the first- through eighth-place teams would face off (the ninth and tenth-place teams would act as alternates). The NJCAA would ensure match-ups between first- and second-place teams, third- and fourth-place teams, and so on. And the system would work similarly in the NCAA, thereby getting rid of the transparently biased Bowl Championship Series, the pollsters of which seem to think no football teams exist east of California or west of Nebraska (except for Texas). And the NJCAA and NCAA would benefit from reducing the number of bowls—supply and demand and all that. But, of course, at this point, when bowl games are a dime-a-dozen, (instead of worth their weight in gold) it takes a lot to post a profit. SANPETE COUNTY Budget Hearing Notice is hereby given, pursuant to Utah Code 17-36-25 and 17-36-26, Annotated, 1953, as amended, that the Sanpete County Commissioners will hold a PUBLIC HEARING on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 at 11 a.m. in the Commission Room, 160 N. Main, Manti, Utah, for the purpose of amending the Budget for 2006 and holding a PUBLIC HEAING for the Sanpete County 2007 Budget. Utah Code 17-36-13. The 2007 Sanpete County budget will be available for review in the office of the Sanpete County Auditor on Friday, Dec. 8, 2006. The budget will be adopted by the Commissioners at 1 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006. Utah Code 17-36-15. Ilene Roth Sanpete County Auditor 12/6MG County Recycle Zones Approved for Another 5 Years Sanpete County has reapplied and has been approved for the Recycling Market Development Zone Tax Credit for another 5 years. The Act passed by the Utah State Legislature provides tax credits for companies residing in the zone that collect, process, handle recycled content material or use them in their manufacturing processes, or composting. This program is designed to reward those businesses that are involved in recycling materials that would otherwise end up in the landfills. These businesses will be able to claim a deduction on their state tax returns for certain projects such as: • 5% state income tax credit on the investment in machinery and equipment • 20% state income tax credit (up to $2,000) on eligible operating expenses, and • Various local incentives Currently, there are eight businesses that have been identified that qualify for this tax credit. Business owners who believe they might qualify for this tax credit can call Shauna at 835-6877 between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. or stop in at 191 North Main at the Visitor Information Office in Manti. For more information please see the following website: http://goed.utah.gov/business_development/incentives/ recycling_zones/index.html 12/6MG RICHFIELD—Gunnison Bulldog Kevin Nay scored 43 points in two games last weekend at the preseason preview basketball tournament in Richfield, but it was not enough: the Bulldogs fell to Kanab, 69-42 and Waterford, 54-46. Against Kanab on Friday, Nay scored 22 points, including a three-pointer, but no other team member approached double figures. Taylor Newman recorded six, as t h e t e a m ’s s e c o n d - h i g h e s t contributor. The Bulldogs struggled in the middle two quarters, allowing Kanab to outscore them by 18 points. Otherwise, the Bulldogs kept it reasonable, allowing only a fivepoint deficit in the first quarter and a four-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs also shot less than 50 percent from the free-throw line, going 7-for14 in the contest. Gunnison fared better against private school, Waterford, on Saturday, even winning the third quarter, 15- 14. But the Bulldogs were unable to climb out from an 8point first-half deficit. Nay scored 21 points in the contest but got more help from the team than he did against Kanab. Derrick Christensen followed Nay with seven points, including a 3-pointer. Sam Judd produced six, and Newman had five. The Bulldogs also fared better from the stripe, going 15-for-21 in the game. The games show improvement, which is all head coach Doug Birk wanted through the preseason. Also, Nay’s scoring as well as Gunnison’s trips to the line illustrates that Birk’s offensive game plan of getting the ball inside and forcing the refs to make decisions worked. The team may need to improve defensively, however. Gunnison has two games on the road this week, against South Summit on Wednesday and Beaver on Friday. The South Summit game will be broadcast on KMTI radio (650 AM). The Beaver game will be broadcast on KCYQ radio (97.7 FM). Pre-game starts at 6:40 p.m. TROY FIELDING / SALINA SUN Kevin Nay puts up a shot in the Gunnison Bulldogs’ loss to Waterford at the 2A Preseason Preview tournament last week in Richfield. Gunnison learned alot in the two games but lost both, to Kanab, 69-42 and Waterford, 54-46. Champions (Continued from A1) For Ravens’ head coach Jeff Leiker, the game came down to missed plays and bad bounces. Snow’s running back Matt Asiata fumbled the ball four times in the first half, only one of which the Ravens recovered. They promptly returned the ball to Snow on the ensuing possession when it slipped from Savage’s hand. “We had numerous balls on the ground, and we didn’t get a break on one of those,” Leiker said. He also mentioned the passes that Coffeyville receivers were unable to bring in. “If we could have completed a few of those, we would have been in good position,” he said. Snow largely dominated the game, but was unable to finish drives; they held Coffeyville to 159 yards in the first, second and fourth quarters, while producing 367 yards themselves. But for all of their yardage, the Badgers were held to just 13 points in the first half. I n t h e t h i r d q u a r t e r, Coffeyville found success in its running game, generating 171 yards of offense on its way to recording two touchdowns and taking a 21-20 lead. Badger tight end Devin Frischknecht had a career performance in the game, leading all receivers with nine catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns. Frischknecht was named the Snow College offensive MVP of the game. Badger quarterback Cade Cooper was unable to finish the game. The Badgers were driving in the third quarter when Cooper was flushed from the pocket. He tucked the ball and ran, before sliding feet-first out of bounds. However, a Coffeyville defender dove at Cooper, leading with his helmet, and snapped Cooper ’s head off the turf. Backup quarterback Stephen Vincent stepped in and threw the game-winning touchdown, a nine-yard strike to Frischknecht. C o o p e r, t h e t o p - r a t e d passer in the NJCAA, went SEAN HALES / MESSENGER PHOTO Snow safety Josh Lehauli makes a leaping block of a Coffeyville pass to end a late game drive. Snow’s defense made another big play later in the fourth quarter when they sacked Coffeyville’s qaurterback as time expired. 10-for-19 for 216 yards and t w o t o u c h d o w n s . Vi n c e n t went 3-for-8 for 37 yards. Asiata rushed for 103 yards on 29 carries with four fumbles. Colt Mund had seven carries for 66 yards and a touchdown. The speed of C o ff e y v i l l e ’s s e c o n d a r y largely kept Badger receivers under wraps. The 13th ranked receiver in the NJCAA, Alex Richards was Snow’s best receiver after Frishcknecht, producing 42 yards on one catch. Cameron Webb followed with three catches for 30 yards. Adam Frandsen had one catch for 27 yards. Snow’s defense, a group that has allowed only 202 total yards on average, allowed 334 against Coffeyville. The Badger offense produced 408 yards after averaging 463 during the season. Badger defensive end Sean Matagi was named defensive MVP for Snow. For Coffeyville, Murphy received the offensive MVP, and Larry Asante was named defensive MVP. All MVPs get a $1,000 scholarship. WWW.CLICK4SPORTS.NET Snow tight end Devin Frischknecht makes a catch—one of his nine on the day—and turns it into the Badger’s game winning touchdown. Frischknecht had 108 yards and three touchdowns and was named Snow’s offensive MVP of the game. |