Nashville QB sets school records during victory
Leonard Snell put his stamp on Nashville’s football record book Friday night.
The senior quarterback rushed for 362 yards and 6 touchdowns on 32 carries and completed 8 of 20 passes for 209 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown pass to Trey Hughes, to lead the Scrappers to a 69-48 victory over Watson Chapel in Pine Bluff.
Snell set Nashville records for single-game rushing yardage and combined total yardage, which was good enough to merit this week’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Feat of the Week.
“He started out slow,” Nashville Coach Mike Volarvich said. “He really picked it up.”
Snell shined in the second quarter, scoring three of his six rushing touchdowns in the quarter.
Nashville trailed 7-0 after one quarter but Snell’s three touchdowns helped the Scrappers take a 21-13 lead into halftime.
“We needed to get a little bit of confidence,” said Volarvich, whose team allowed a touchdown on the first play of the game and fumbled the ensuing kickoff.
Snell’s first touchdown went for 35 yards. He followed that with a 40-yard touchdown run and a 14-yard score later in the first half.
Snell scored from 14 yards out in the third quarter. He had another 14-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and his 64-yard scoring run capped his big night.
Snell broke Nashville’s single-game rushing record of 298 yards set in 2008 by Pierre Vaughn. He also shattered Vaughn Tollett’s 80-year-old record of 511 total yards in a single game, piling up 571.
Snell has rushed for 670 yards and 8 touchdowns on 67 carries through 3 games, averaging 223 yards per game. He’s completed 31 of 66 passes for 453 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“He’s done real well,” said Volarvich, who is in his first season as the Scrappers’ coach. “Any time you can get a guy averaging 200 yards a game, that’s tough to do at the quarterback position. He’s improving every week. He’s been very explosive.”
Volarvich said Snell is receiving recruiting interest from Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Harding and Henderson State, primarily as a slot receiver or cornerback.
When Volarvich was hired as the Scrappers’ coach in January to replace Billy Dawson, he said he wanted Snell to take control of the offense after the graduation of several key players, including LaMichael Pettway, who is now at the University of Arkansas.
“We worked on installing the base stuff,” Volarvich said. “We have him reading different things. We do things a little different in this offense than they did last year. It’s a learning process.”
Nashville travels to Arkadelphia on Friday for its 7-4A Conference opener.