Bucky Beaver
The Ballard High School Beavers hosted the 10th ranked team in state Friday at Memorial Stadium for their Homecoming. Newport High School showed why they are ranked 10. Newport dominated both sides of the ball scoring touchdowns on 7 of their 10 positions and holding the Beavers to one touchdown and only 17 yards rushing. The one bright side was the Beaver passing game which completed 15 passes for 200 yards and 1 touchdown. Senior quarterback Johnny Verduin connected with senior Nate Rauda for a 15 yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Rauda ended up with 105 yards receiving on 6 catches; Senior Michael Asefa added 78 yards on five catches. The 200 yards passing was a season high for Ballard and Verduin.
Beaver marching band entertaining at halftime. Photo courtesy of Ballard High School.
The Beaver defense was led by senior Justin Simon who had 10 tackles including teaming up with junior Elliot Brockl for a sack. Nate Rauda added 12 tackles and senior Dominique Smith chipped in 9 tackles.
Beaver Nation had one of the largest crowds in years at Memorial Stadium. The Ballard Athletic Booster Club sponsored a tailgate party before the game which attracted a large crowd. The Beaver’s Marching Band and Dance Team put on a great halftime show entertaining the crowd.
The Beavers are now 1-1 in conference play with 3 conference games remaining. They take to the road again traveling to the No. 1 team in state Skyline High School this Friday at 7:00 p.m. They will likely need to win one or two of their remaining three conference games to have a shot at making playoffs.