Strong finish highlights challenging season for Ballard football program

The Ballard football team went through a rough patch in 2022, but a strong finish has the Bombers hopeful for the future.

Coming off a 5-5 season that included a trip to the playoffs in 2021 Ballard was hoping to make a run at a winning record this fall. But offensive struggles and overall inconsistency plagued the Bombers as they only won one of their first seven games.

But as the season was winding down Ballard started putting things together. The Bombers won their final two games in decisive fashion to finish 3-6 overall and 2-3 in Class 3A District 2.

"We came up short of meeting our goals, but we are really proud of how we finished the season," Ballard co-head coach Kyle Howard said. "We will miss this great group of seniors and we’re excited about the players we have returning next season. "

Ballard opened the season against two top-10 playoff teams in 4A power Bondurant-Farrar and 3A rival Adel-Desoto-Minburn. The Bombers fell by scores of 36-7 and 59-20 respectively.

On Sept. 9 Ballard picked up its first victory with a dominant 41-6 victory at Boone. The Bombers came close to making it two wins in a row the next week at Atlantic, but they dropped a 15-12 defensive battle.

District play opened Sept. 23 with the Bombers hosting then-No. 2 Humboldt. They gave the Wildcats a good run for their money before falling by a 26-14 score.

The next week Ballard faced another top-10 3A team in Nevada on the road. The Bombers also put up a great fight against the Cubs before losing another defensive struggle, 17-12.

Ballard played its third top-10 opponent in as many weeks Oct. 7. The Bombers traveled to Alleman and suffered their only lopsided loss in district play with a 42-19 setback at the hands of North Polk.

But the Bombers didn't let that loss demoralize them. They turned in their two best performances of the year against Algona and Gilbert at home to close out the season.

More:What we learned from Ballard's 35-19 victory over Algona in 3A District 2 football

Ballard handled Algona by a 35-19 score Oct. 14. The next week they hammered Gilbert in a 40-0 shutout.

"Finishing the season with two big wins at home was huge for us," Howard said. "It was a great way to send off our seniors and build some momentum for our underclassmen going into the offseason."

Ballard averaged 22.2 points and 246.2 yards per game on offense. The Bombers gave up averages of 24.4 points and 277.9 yards.

Junior back Eli Rouse ran for 832 yards and 14 touchdowns, caught 14 passes for 207 yards and one score and added 133 yards and one touchdown passing for Ballard on offense.

Senior quarterback Luke Hartsook threw for 732 yards and four touchdowns with six interceptions and sophomore Miles Mudd added 158 yards and three scores through the air with two interceptions. Junior Chance Lande was the top Bomber receiver with 30 catches for 323 yards and two touchdowns, Jakson Fleischmann had 19 grabs for 216 and three scores and sophomore Mason Gatchel made 12 grabs for 145 yards and one score.

Senior back Gabe Christensen tacked on 238 yards and four touchdowns rushing and sophomore Rhett Hedrick finished with 102 yards on the ground.

On defense Ballard was led by Collins-Maxwell transfer Brody Sampson. The junior linebacker made 59.5 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.

"Brody Sampson was new to our team this year," Howard said. "He had a monster season for us. He led the team in tackles and tackles for loss and set a new school record for sacks in a season."

Christensen had 52.5 tackles, four tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and one sack and interception apiece and senior Jayden Swain added 44.5 tackles, seven stops behind the line, two fumble recoveries and one sack and interception apiece as the other two linebackers for Ballard. Defensive lineman Henry Christensen tallied 37.5 tackles, eight stops behind the line and three sacks, Jack Nelson 31.5 tackles, seven tackles for loss and one sack and fumble recovery apiece, Trevor Kalsem 25.5 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery and Jackson Wacha 24.5 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

Defensive backs Chance Lande and Tucker Vitzthum had 32.5 and 30.5 tackles respectively. Lande also intercepted three passes and Vitzthum added one interception. Caleb Sparks chipped in 27 tackles and one fumble recovery and interception apiece, Fleischmann 25 tackles and one fumble recovery, Hedrick 18.5 stops and an interception, Beau Warg 14.5 tackles and Jameson Witt 13.5.

Rouse was also a dangerous weapon on kick returns, averaging 27.6 yards per return with one touchdown. Lande averaged 33.7 yards on six returns.

Caden Miller made 18 of 24 extra points and Warg averaged 28.8 yards on 25 punts.

Next season Ballard will need to get better offensively if it hopes to make it back to the playoffs. The Bombers return a lot of talent, led by Rouse, Sampson and Lande and Howard and fellow co-head coach Corey Vespestad are anxious to see what they can accomplish in 2023.

"We have such great, hardworking kids here," Howard said. "We’re excited to have another opportunity to coach them and watch them compete on Friday nights."

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: After rough start Ballard football team finishes 2022 on a high note