No. 1 Snow leaves no doubt in victory

EPHRAIM — Snow College quarterback Jon Eastman hardly looked like someone who just spent six weeks on the injured roster.

And after a leading his team to a 55-21 smothering of the fourth-ranked Eastern Arizona Gila Monsters on Saturday, Eastman said he felt as good as he looked.

"It feels awesome to be back," he said. "It's great fun. I love football, and I love being out there with my friends."

Eastman had left the field four games into the season with a foot injury that sidelined him for the next five games.

With his return, Eastman helped to pretty much cement Snow's No. 1 ranking and show just how good a quarterback he is.

Though gone for six weeks, it appeared that he never missed a beat.

He directed the Badgers to 304 passing yards on 11 of 20 passing, for an average of 27.6 yards per completion, and three passing touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Snow rushed for 366 yards.

Even when threatened by Eastern Arizona's defense, Eastman never looked like he felt threatened but trusted his own offensive line to give him time and keep him safe.

"That's a real tough quality of a good quarterback, that he doesn't see those 350-pound linemen," said Snow had coach Steve Coburn. "He's got confidence in that offensive line, and they've got confidence in him."

Eastman trusted himself and his receivers, too. Several of his passes might have been risky but didn't look that way because he threw them with such confidence.

"That's the quality of player we have," said Coburn.

Last year, Eastern Arizona beat Snow, taking from the Badgers a No. 1 ranking, national title hopes and an undefeated season, making this the biggest victory of the year for Snow.

"You bet it is," Coburn said. "Every game is big because we had to win them all to get here, but to this point in the year this is the biggest game, with all the marbles on the table, playing the No. 4 team in the nation, and playing for a national title."

L