By Tom Williams

In Rob Boyd’s first varsity start, the junior passed for 150 yards.

BOARDMAN — Perhaps the most astonishing thing about the Boardman High football team’s 43-0 demolition of Cuyahoga Falls Friday was that the score was not more lopsided.

Two first-half turnovers and three penalties helped limit the Spartans to 17 first-half points.

But two rushing touchdowns by senior halfback Damien Jarrett in the third quarter turned the season opener at Boardman Stadium into a romp, paving the way for substitutes to play in the fourth quarter.

“Scoring 43 points and a shutout, it sounds silly for me to complain,” Boardman coach D.J. Ogilvie said. “But we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times with turnovers in the first half, so there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

Coming off last season’s 8-4 record that included two playoff games, the Spartans know they aren’t going to sneak up on anyone this fall.

“The bar was obviously raised last season with our great record and how our seniors led,” senior lineman Corey Linsley said. “I think it has set the bar even higher than people think. We obviously lost a lot of great leaders.”

After going three-and-out on their first series, Spartans junior quarterback Rob Boyd, in his first varsity start, helped engineer a seven-play, 80-yard scoring march.

Boardman took the lead when Boyd found wide receiver Chase Hammond open near the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown.

Linsley says scoring through the air is not “a surprise to us, but definitely to [opponents] we face. It helps us a lot with how other teams approach us defensively and it opens up the run. We’re now two-dimensional.”

Early in the second quarter, the Black Tigers had the Spartans inching backwards after a holding call. Facing third-and-20 from the Boardman 15, Boyd threw a swing pass to Jarrett who raced 85 yards down the sideline for a 14-0 lead.

“That was pretty sweet, I’ve got to tell you,” Linsley said. “I watched him [take off] and [thought] ‘Man, I’ve got to run all the way down there.’ But it was a fantastic run.”

Late in the half, Black Tigers punter Chris Shaffer fumbled a snap and Boardman’s Kevin Johnson recovered at the Cuyahoga Falls 22.

That set up Trevor Ragan’s 33-yard field goal as the first half expired.

Boyd completed seven of 13 passes for 150 yards. One was intercepted.

“I’m real happy with his composure and how he ran the huddle,” Ogilvie said. “Overall with his first varsity start, I’m very pleased with what he did. We’re looking for big things out of him.”

Jarrett rushed for 152 yards on 19 carries.

“He’s a great little back and he’s tough — that’s the thing I like about Damien,” Ogilvie said. “More than anything, he’s a tough kid. He blocks his butt off. A lot of backs just want to run but he takes pride in his blocking and that shows a lot of unselfishness on his part.”

The news for Boardman was not all good — one play after his opening touchdown reception, Hammond, while playing cornerback, was helped off the field with his right leg unable to support any weight.

“We’ve gotten word back to he’s dislocated his ankle,” Ogilvie said. “Our team doctor says that’s worse [than a break] because the ligaments are torn.

“We’re looking for him to be a huge part of our offense. We hope he can get [healthy].”

The Spartans rushed 45 times for 336 yards and limited the Tigers to 144 yards of total offense.

williams@vindy.com