Not with Ben Broeker under center.
The strong-armed senior began his air assault by throwing four touchdown passes in the first half as the visiting Rams hammered Shelton, 69-7, in a nonleague matchup Friday night at Highclimber Stadium.
Broeker, who didn’t attempt a pass in the second half, finished 6-for-10 for 206 yards.
“It was a tough start, but we just continued to gain confidence as the game went on,” said Broeker, who will chase his brother Rich’s school record for passing yards in a game (279) and season (1,708). “We have some young linemen who stepped up tonight and made my job easy.”
The 69 points was a school record for North Thurston, which opened its doors in 1955.
Broeker, however, was hardly the only offensive bright spot for the Rams (1-0).
Prior to the start of the season, North Thurston coach Rocky Patchin planned to utilize a running-back-by-committee system in an attempt to replace all-state runner Lawyer Tillman.
Patchin might have to rethink that strategy because of the emergence of junior Brandon Belisario, who reeled off touchdown runs of 87 and 85 yards.
Belisario finished with 186 yards on 10 carries.
It actually was a shaky start for Broeker and the Rams.
With a Shelton defender dragging him to the turf, Broeker tossed an interception on his first pass attempt of the season.
A pair of incomplete passes followed before Broeker found his groove – hitting six consecutive passes to close out the first half, with four of those going for touchdowns.
Senior P.K. Machado was the recipient of Broeker’s first two TD strikes, hauling in scoring passes of 61 and 15 yards.
“There’s three or four options for me out there, not just Landon Rushton and Matt Reid,” Broeker said. “I think we showed that teams can’t just focus on those two players in our passing game.”
Broeker also hit Rushton for a 37-yard touchdown and sophomore tight end Joshua Cahill for a 55-yard TD.
North Thurston didn’t do it only on offense on its way to a commanding 41-0 halftime lead.
The Rams also got a 50-yard interception return for a score from Hayden Maliska during their 34-point outburst during the second quarter.
Maurice Manning (66 yards), Robert Saylor (50) and Braden Rushton (65) all added long fourth-quarter touchdown runs, helping the Rams to a 62-0 lead.
