Quali Conley rushed for career highs of 139 yards and three touchdowns, while the Trailblazer defense forced five second half turnovers, as Utah Tech rolled to a 56-10 victory over Chadron State in its home opener on Saturday night at Greater Zion Stadium.
 
The two sides slugged their way to a 7-7 deadlock in the first half. UT (1-1) got on the board five minutes into the game thanks to a Conley 10-yard run. Meanwhile Chadron State (0-2) answered with a Jalen Starks 1-yd dive just 28 seconds into the second quarter.
 
The Trailblazers came out hitting on all cylinders to start the third quarter, which got kick-started on defense when linebacker Kaejin Smith-Bejgrowicz stepped in front of a would be Chadron receiver to house a 32-yard interception return to break the tie just 1:22 into the period. 
 
Utah Tech would strike for two more scores later in the frame, the first coming on a 7-yard fade from Kobe Tracy to Malcolm Ross-Turner that put the Blazers up 21-7 at the 4:29 mark.
 
UT's defense collected its second interception of the game on the Eagles' ensuing possession when Smith-Bejgrowicz deflected a Heath Beemiller pass, which was hauled in by defensive back Darrius Nash at the Chadron 34.
 
Tracy then threw a strike to Joey Hobert that got the Blazers to the Eagle 1-yard line, where Conley dove in on the very next play to extend the UT lead to 28-7 with under three minutes to play in the quarter.
 
Tracy and Hobert would connect for two touchdowns in the fourth, beginning with a 38-yard hook-up on the first play of the stanza.
 
Then just 33 seconds later, sophomore safety Tyrell Grayson collected his third career interception and returned it 51 yards to paydirt for his first collegiate pick-six that made it a 42-7 game.
 
The Blazer defense wasted little time recording its fourth interception of the game, in fact it was on Chadron's very next offensive play when Steven Ashby picked off Beemiller at the UT 48.
 
On UT's ensuing possession, Tracy found Hobert on third and eight over the middle at the Chadron 44, and the sophomore receiver did the rest as he out-ran the Eagle defense for his second touchdown of the night.
 
Following a Chadron field goal with under nine minutes remaining, Conley capped an 11-play, 65-yard drive with his third TD from 1-yard out to add the exclamation point on a dominant Trailblazer win.
 
Conley carried the ball a season-high 21 times en route to his first collegiate 100-yard rushing day, while his three touchdowns vaulted him sixth place (9 TDs) on UT's career TD run list.
 
Tracy threw for a career-best 388 yards on 25-of-44 passing with a career-high tying three touchdowns. It was the sophomore's second-straight 300-plus yard game to open the season and the fourth of his career. In addition, the sophomore extended his streak of throwing at least one touchdown pass to seven-straight games, while it was his fourth multi-TD game overall.
 
Hobert finished the night with 161 yards on six catches to go with his career-high two TDs. Hobert's effort nearly matched his Trailblazer debut last week at Sacramento State, against which he caught 11 balls for 183 yards and a score.
 
Utah Tech wound up with 561 yards of total offense, including 398 in the air along with a season-high 163 rush yards. 
 
However the story was the Trailblazer defense, which held Chadron State to just 288 total yards, including only 129 on the ground. 
 
Meanwhile the interception returns for touchdowns by Smith-Bejgrowicz and Grayson marked the second time the program's NCAA era that Utah Tech's defense achieved that feat. In 2019, the Trailblazers housed two interceptions in a big 55-0 home win over New Mexico Highlands (Aaron Simpson/Augustus Fraser; 9/21/19).
 
Utah Tech will head out for two-straight, in-state road games, beginning in Ogden with a showdown against Weber State next Saturday, Sept. 17. Kick-off inside Stewart Stadium is set for 6 p.m.