Ballers Lose 1st in 3 Games 23-14

BLACKSBURG (BP) -- In front of a home crows and an upgraded stadium with some new seats, the Blacksburg Ballers unfortunately snapped a 3 game winning streak with a loss today 23-14 against the North American NDL'ers. The Ballers were unable to stop QB David Riccio who had 253 yds, 3 TD, and 0 INT's.

"It was tough to stop their offense," CB Beast Baily said. "They were just clicking on all cylinders completing passes and making TD's. We just didn't capitalize on our oppurtunities and make the most of what we had."

The Ballers came into the game evenly matched against the NDL'ers with a main concern being their interior line. They started an unproven DT in Brian Freeney, who to his credit played extremely well.

"It was tough throwing Brian in there like that," Defensive Coordinator Kage said. "He played well and held his own there, but with James [Harvard] having some issues with his stamina we had to start Brian."

The offense did not fair any better than defense, with Khari Jones having to shoulder the load and playing well to his credit. He had 229 yds, 2 TD, and 1 INT while the Ballers rush offense went nowhere. Russell Roch was the leading rusher with 27.5 yds and nothing went well as far as the ground game.

"Getting 8 man fronts all the time means we're just not going to get a lot of yards," RB Dan Etheridge said. "We got those 8 man fronts and they had a superb secondary that stopped a lot of the big plays we needed."

The Ballers are looking to next week as they play the lowly Ottawa Chiefs who come in at 1-4.

*Khari Jones receives the game ball after his 2 TD performance. Great job Khari and everyone else despite the loss. Let's bounce back and beat the Chiefs next week!*