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In his first varsity start for North Thurston, the lanky, 6-foot-4 junior threw four touchdowns, leading the Rams to a convincing 49-28 victory over Shelton in the season opener for both at South Sound Stadium.
“Ben went out there and did the job,” Rams coach Rocky Patchin said. “We threw everything at him and he kept his composure. He did a nice job.”
Broeker, the third in his family to start at quarterback for North Thurston, threw for 155 yards on 11-of -19 accuracy, including touchdowns of 8, 6, 28 and 9 yards.
North Thurston’s Lawyer Tillman, a returning all-league tailback, rushed for 165 yards on 14 carries and scored on runs of 64 and 28 yards.
Trialing 14-7 after the first quarter, North Thurston scored 35 unanswered points over the next two quarters. Two fumble recoveries and Matt Reid’s 36-yard punt return gave the Rams a short field on three of those touchdown drives, starting at the Highclimbers’ 25, 32 and 23.
Shelton lost five fumbles, four of which helped set up touchdowns for the Rams.
“Once we clean things up we’ll be OK,” Shelton coach Matt Hinkle said. “We saw some glimmers. We have to clean up the turnovers.”
Shelton fumbled on its second play from scrimmage, a muffed exchanged that linebacker Jacob Sebastian recovered at the Highclimbers’ 32. Seven plays later on a fourth-and-goal from the 8, Tillman scored on an 8-yard pass from Broeker.
“He’s a good one,” Patchin said about his senior running back. “I thought our kids played very calm. But we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Shelton tied the score 7-7 on Jacob Barrett’s 4-yard run with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter, capping a nine-play, 54-yard drive. Barrett, who didn’t play last season because of a back injury, took a pitch from Ryan Adams and outran a tackler.
On the Rams’ next play, Shelton’s sophomore linebacker Thomas Gettle intercepted Broeker’s pass over the middle and raced 55 yards for a TD and 14-7 lead.
North Thurston exploded for 21 points in the second quarter, scoring on Tillman’s 64-yard run, Reid’s 6-yard pass and Landon Rushton 28-yard pass, which came on the final play of the first half.
The Rams held a 202-92 edge in total yardage after two quarters.
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