By Christopher Duclos

The big names Nate Rauda, Dominique Smith and Johnny Verduin of Ballard offense led the charge on Friday evening as Ballard rolled past the Lynnwood High Knights for a non-conference showdown. A high scoring, well played game all around by Ballard earned them their first win on the road.

Johnny Verduin rushed for the first touchdown off an 11-yard run to put Ballard up in the first quarter. Lynnwood would then respond off a 48-yard pass from Lynnwood quarterback Justin Cachopo. This brought the score to 7-6 after a failed two-point conversion attempt. Ballard’s Johnny Verduin then found his favorite target, Nate Rauda, for a 1-yard pass play.

The second quarter scoring was fueled by Dominique Smith as he scored a touchdown off a 1-yard run. Smith followed up on defense by returning an interception 54 yards to the house for a touchdown. Lynnwood then responded with a touchdown bringing the score to 27-13 Ballard.

The second half included more fireworks on the offensive side of the ball with a 40-yard run by Dominique Smith, a 38-yard reception for a touchdown by Nate Rauda and another rushing touchdown by Dominique Smith off of 3 yards. Lynnwood totaled 14 points in the second half with a 5-yard pass play from Justin Cachopo (the two point conversion failed). Lynnwood defender Andrew Katzenberg then returned a blocked field goal for 45 yards (two point successful).

One of the bigger plays of the game included an 84-yard interception return by Jordan McColloch. Ballard High defense stood strong by only allowing one score per quarter by Lynnwood. The pass rush was very effective at times against the Lynnwood offense. Justin Simon recorded 2 sacks with 5 total tackles as well as Asher Clasen with 1 sack. Max Marshall led the team in tackles with 6. Freshman Jerome Nathan also heard his named called following an interception returned for 8 yards.

The Beavers now sit on a 2-7 season record though the season is not yet over. Their final game of the season will be played against Mariner on Thursday, Nov. 1, at Memorial Stadium.

Notes:

• Senior wideout/defensive back continues to impress. On offense he had 5 receptions for 53 yards averaging 10.6 yards per catch. His all purpose yards total comes to 67 because of a play that clocked him in at rushing for 14 yards. Nate had a total of two touchdowns on the evening.
• Dominique Smith had another big night of carrying the ball. He rushed on 9 attempts for 89 yards averaging 9.89 yards per carry. His longest run of the evening was for 40 yards. He also received the ball in the air 4 times for 23 yards. Smith had a nose for the end zone totaling 4 total touchdowns (3 rush, 1 INT return).
• Special teams shined – 154 total return yards off of 4 returns. Nate Rauda had two kickoff receptions and Dominique Smith had the other two.
• This high scoring win ties Ballard’s week 4 matchup against Garfield where they also scored 48 total points on the night.
• Friday night’s victory is their first road this season. Ballard is now 1-3 against teams outside of Seattle, 1-5 overall on the road.