Rams junior defenders Xavier Provencio (77) and Michael Cordero-Gill (43) got to Eldorado’s quarterback too late to sack him or knock down his pass, but the Rams’ D didn’t allow a TD to the winless Eagles.
There’ll be “Friday Night Lights” in the City of Vision for the third time in the last four weeks this week, when Rio Rancho High School meets Organ Mountain High School in the Rams’ Homecoming game.
Kickoff at Rio Rancho Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
Rio Rancho (2-1) needs to get its offense to score points for the Rams, as it did in the 34-17 victory over Eldorado on Aug. 27.
The Rams managed only two touchdowns in last week’s 13-7 win over El Paso’s Eastlake High, and the first player to score in that game, Mikey Wood, is out for a while with a broken left collarbone. That puts a lot on the shoulders of junior quarterback Noah Nelson, who scored his team’s other TD on a 5-yard run.
The Rams didn’t score in the second half of last Friday night’s game, and Eastlake’s lone TD came on a fumble recovery.
In fact, the opposing teams’ last three – and only three – touchdowns came when the Rams offense was on the field.
“We’ve got a physical offensive line. Noah’s doing a good job for us,” first-year coach Nate Pino said. “We’ve got to get some guys that can catch the ball consistently. …
Mikey made some huge plays the first half, and then when he went out, we struggled and were inconsistent.”
Organ Mountain (2-1), originally known as Onate, is coming off a 28-0 victory over Mayfield, now in Class 5A.
The Knights opened the season with a 22-20 loss to Albuquerque High, then beat Deming 28-7 in Week 2.
In six previous meetings with the Rams, the Knights have yet to win; the Rams have scored 35 or more points in those games, while Organ Mountain has never scored more than 14.
“We’ll keep plugging away,” first-year coach Nate Pino said after last week’s win. “We’ve got to find some playmakers.
“We’ve got a good football team; we’ve got to put the pieces together on offense,” he said, downplaying any notion that Homecoming would be a distraction.
“I think we’ve got a pretty focused team; it shouldn’t be a distraction because Organ Mountain took it to Mayfield last weekend. That should open their eyes,” he said. “There’s not going to be any gimmes and, you know, one week at a time.”
One variable: The Knights’ Abe Romero, a senior quarterback, was hospitalized after collapsing on the field in their game against Deming; he’s been in a coma at University Medical Center in El Paso.
“They’ve got a cause they’re working for,” Pino said.
Storm are on the road for third week in a row
Down in Las Cruces on Saturday afternoon, the top-ranked Storm meet winless Las Cruces at the Field of Dreams at 1.
Las Cruces lost its opener, 34-17, to Volcano Vista at Nusenda Community Stadium on Aug. 19, then was clobbered in El Paso by Eastwood, 63-35, last week.
Who’s No. 1 this week? It’s Cleveland again, but moving up a notch to No. 2 is La Cueva, which beat previous No. 1 Centennial 28-21 at Wilson Stadium last week. So it’s been a weird three weeks so far: Centennial beat Cleveland, which beat La Cueva, which beat Centennial. Centennial dropped to No. 3, while unbeaten Hobbs is now No. 4. (The Rams are No. 5, up three spots from the previous week.)
Heading into Week 4, two other teams in District 1-6A – Cibola and Volcano Vista – are 3-0, while Atrisco Heritage Academy is off to a 2-1 start, buoyed by a 54-33 rout of Eldorado (0-3) last week.
