The Skyline Spartans are one of the top 10 high school football teams in the nation and they played like it Sept. 10, burning Ballard for 42 unanswered first-half points.

For the first half of the game, Skyline harassed the Beavers into costly fumbles, tackled them for losses and scored at will.

Ballard managed to hold the Spartans' backups scoreless in the second half and scored two touchdowns – by senior Gardar Olaffson and freshman Stuart Thomas – to avoid the shutout.

Coming into the game, Ballard coach John Bowers recognized the dominance of the Skyline team.

"If anyone beats them this year, it's going to take one heck of a team and one heck of an effort," he said.

Bowers said his goal against the Spartans was for his team to play hard and simply come out of the game in one piece.

He said the team ended up in pretty good shape, and the players feel better knowing they improved and competed the whole game.

Ballard football has opened the season with a tough couple games. Before the 42-12 loss against nationally-ranked Skyline, the Beavers were shutout 38-0 by Liberty High School, which is in the top five teams in the state.

Things should get slightly easier for Ballard next week as the team travels to Newport High School for a 7 p.m. game Sept. 17.