By RayJaun Stelly, The Seattle Medium
Coming off their loss to O’Dea at Lumen field, the Rainier Beach Vikings looked to regroup against a Ballard Beavers team was coming off a one touchdown win against Roosevelt. Now entering week four, the bright lights and the Space Needle overlooking Memorial field set the stage for this Metro League matchup.
Ballard would kick the ball off to Rainier Beach to start the game.
Being shutout last week, the Vikings wasted no time putting up points. In just two plays, Rainier Beach running back Scot’Tre Humphrey erupted for a 62-yard rushing touchdown giving his team an early 7-0 lead.
Ballard would receive possession, and their offense seemed to be thriving behind quarterback Joe Farley’s passing ability and forcing penalties against Vikings’ defensive line. However, what appeared to be a scoring drive was quickly shut down as Rainier Beach defensive back Caleb Presley intercepted a pass.
With the interception, Rainier Beach displayed signs of wanting to takeover this game immediately. But Ballard would bring fans to their feet, as the Beavers forced a Vikings punt that was blocked and returned for a 10-yard touchdown by Alexander Good and at the blink of an eye, the game was tied at 7.
At the start of second quarter, Rainier Beach’s defense would record back-to-back sacks on third and fourth down forcing a turnover on downs. Rainier Beach would quickly capitalize on the turnover as Humphrey would put the Vikings in scoring position with a 60-yard run. Vikings’ signal-caller Chance Guadiz capped off the drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak to regain the lead at 14-7.
After forcing a Ballard three-and-out, Rainier Beach continued to have success by running the ball and Humphrey, as their main ball carrier, couldn’t be stopped. Three plays into the drive, Humphrey would score his second touchdown of the game giving his team a 21-7 lead.
After giving up 14 unanswered points, Ballard would respond as Farley would complete a 10-yard touchdown pass to cut the Vikings lead to 21-14 with less than a minute remaining before halftime.
On the ensuing kickoff, a squib kick by Ballard ended up in the hands of Caleb Presley who scored on a 60-yard kickoff return for a touchdown giving the Vikings a 28-14 lead going into the second half.
Rainier Beach’s momentum of the first half became contagious to start the third quarter, as they’d force an immediate fumble on Ballard at the 40-yard line Three plays and 55 seconds later, Rainier Beach’s Guadiz would find wide receiver Oteko Mwamba for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
With their offense being ran close to perfection, Rainier Beach’s defensive secondary put on a show as they recorded four interceptions. Presley had two and returned one for a 90-yard touchdown, Mwamba and Ray Proctor both recorded one as well. Forcing a total of six Ballard turnovers, the Vikings dominance to start the second half resulted in a 49-21 victory.
Offensively, Scot’Tre Humphrey led the way with three rushing touchdowns, Guadiz recorded two touchdowns, one throwing and one rushing, while Mwamba had Rainier Beach’s only receiving touchdown.
Now with a 3-1 overall record, Rainier Beach will face Roosevelt next week with the opportunity to improve their record to 4-1.
