Ballers Fall to Gold Rush Again

BLACKSBURG, VA - Another defensive struggle once again laid the Ballers down to rest, marking the first loss of the season at the hands of the Yukon Gold Rush for the 2nd straight year. A slight improvement over last season, the Ballers managed to put up 10 points in a 16-10 defeat with a field goal by Mario Boomer and a 6.5 yard touchdown strike from Khari Jones to Chris Barlow.

"It's a frustrating loss because we really prepared for this game and thought that we finally had the edge but just got hampered by a solid defense. There were a lot of mistakes all around, balls I overthrew, underthrew, passes getting deflected and dropped and it just added up to us not being able to move the ball effeciently enough to win the game," Quarterback Khari Jones.

The lack of a strong passing attack was truly the story of the game as Khari Jones posted a career low completion percentage of 40.7% completing 11 of 27 passes for 94 yards, 1 score and no interceptions. The running game did manage to get going with Karl Ayotte and Jesse Lumsden combining for 127 yards on 31 carries but two fumbles lost ended any momentum that those two were gaining. Some poor strategy choices also came back to haunt the Ballers as two unsucessful fourth down attempts while near enemy range would prove to be fatal for the Ballers.

"Certainly looking back now, its easy to say that we shouldn't have gone for it and taken the points which I totally agree. It was a hindsight error move on my part with our aggressive strategy. The 4th and 6 attempt was just out of field goal range so I thought it'd be worth the risk, the 4th and half a yard is something we should be able to convert but didn't. And then in the 4th when we went for it and fumbled, that's just bad luck. I've learned from my mistakes and we will take a less aggressive stand in the future. It is important to note though that this aggressive has won us many games so far and lost us very few," Offensive Co-ordinator Ryan Betesta.

While the Ballers offense was having its hands full, the Ballers defense continued its bend but don't break approach as it allowed 432 points but only 16 points on 3 field goals and a 60 yard pass immediately following the Ballers first score. The defense also recorded a sack and Aaron Wilson recorded his 2nd interception in a great showing by this Ballers defense.

The Ballers will travel next to play the Fhockey.com Demons and try to get back on the winning track with an explosive passing attack once again. Wide Receivers Landon Swifty and Wayne Chrebet are intent on stepping up and making sure that this kind of passing attack will not happen again. Last season against the Demons, it was all defense as they only allowed .5 a yard rushing and recorded 5 sacks as the offense did just enough to emerge victorious by a score of 17-3.