Eastside Catholic’s home opener underway against the Ballard Beavers on September 8th. Ranked No. 1 in SB Live’s Washington HS Power Rankings, the Crusaders were expected to run away with the victory, and they didn’t disappoint.
Before halftime, the score was already lopsided with the hosts tallying a 43-0 lead over the visiting Beavers thanks to two 1st-quarter fumble recoveries by Mikey Childress and multiple touchdown passes by QB Jake Tiryakioglu.
The Crusaders were off to a great start when kicker, Connor Brandt, made a field goal and running back, Jeremiah Burroughs, made the first touchdown of the season. From that point forward the Crusaders continued to extend their lead over the Beavers.
Halfway into the first quarter the Beavers fumbled a punt, recovered by wide receiver Bryson Ross. A 22-yard touchdown by wide receiver, Nick Jones, followed this recovery. It became clear that this would be a blowout when the Crusaders had a lead of 16-0 over the Beavers halfway into the first quarter.
The first quarter ended with a score of 22-0 with the Crusaders in the lead. Although they were losing, the Beavers held their heads high and continued to fight.
Immediately into the second quarter Eastside received a personal foul, advancing Ballard to their 49-yard line. The Beavers got their first, first down of the game and started to approach their end zone, but ultimately the ball was turned over.
Tiryakioglu made a good 15-yard pass to wide receiver, Asa Thompson, who then ran 17-yards to score the Crusaders another touchdown. Thompson made many great plays at state last year, only being a freshman, and it looks like he’s going to continue this trend during the 2023-2024 season.
The Crusader score continued raising, while the Ballard score stayed at zero. With seconds left in the first half, Tiryakioglu and wide receiver, Jayden Reyes, made one more scoring play. The Crusaders leave the first half, dominating, with a score of 43-0.
With the huge lead the Crusaders had, the coaching staff decided to take out the starters. Even without the starters on the field, Eastside started the second half with a huge run by wide receiver, Robert Ingram.
Eastside made it to their end zone, but a bad snap resulted in a fumble recovered by the Beavers. This marked the end of the third quarter.
Ballard’s offense started to fight a little harder, in result they kept possession for the first 9 minutes of the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Beaver’s, even with the ball they could not score. Eastside ran two plays, but also could not score.
The Crusaders won their home opener with a final score of 43-0. The Crusaders now hold a winning streak of one week and hold the first-place seed for WA 3A Metro. The Beavers now hold a losing streak of one week and hold the sixth-place seed for WA 3A Metro 3A Metro – Mountain Football Standings (maxpreps.com).
