Rams bounce back from opening loss, defeat Eldorado

RIO RANCHO — Anthony Raymer didn’t mince words.

“Sometimes,” he said, “you gotta get punched in the mouth in order to succeed.”

A three-touchdown loss to La Cueva in Week 1 certainly got the attention of the Rio Rancho Rams, who came out under a blazing sun and, sparked by three touchdowns by Raymer, outscored visiting Eldorado 40-26 on Saturday to rebound from a setback eight days earlier.

The way La Cueva controlled the Rams in the opener, Raymer said, jolted the team.

“Sometimes you have to lose to improve,” said the senior.

Rio Rancho (1-1) led the entire way against the feisty Eagles (1-1), and the Rams won despite this bizarre statistic:

Quarterbacks Noah Nelson and J.J. Arellano combined to throw for 273 yards in the first half, and not a single yard in the second half.

The wrinkle of rotating Nelson and Arellano every other series yielded strong dividends for Rio Rancho. Each had successes.

“They both deserve to play,” Rio Rancho coach Nate Pino said. “They’re both good, they both bring different dynamics. I thought they both played well.”

The Rams scored touchdowns on five of their first six full drives in the first half, including a 64-yard TD pass from Arellano to Dominic Valencia 40 seconds into the game.

Raymer caught a 26-yard TD pass from Nelson, and also a 45-yard scoring pass from Arellano in which the ball was tipped twice inside the 5 before he collected it in Eldorado traffic and scored.

“It was an amazing play,” he said. “It was tipped, I saw it go up, I brought it in, ran backwards and thank God I got it into the end zone.”

He added a 60-yard score on a jet sweep in the third quarter, the Rams’ only points after halftime.

Pino wanted more explosive plays from the offense after last week, and there were plenty of those Saturday. Five of the touchdowns covered 64, 26, 45, 50 and 60 yards.

Eldorado — with several highlight-reel, one-handed catches by receivers Josh Jackson and Josiah Mitchell, including one in the end zone by Mitchell — was close most of the first half, training 12-7 and 19-14. The Rams scored 14 points in a span of 1:17 to stretch to a 33-14 lead.

The teams were scheduled to play Friday night, but lightning ultimately delayed it to an 11 a.m. kickoff Saturday.

RIO RANCHO 40, ELDORADO 26

Eldorado 7 13 6 0 — 26

Rio Rancho 12 21 7 0 — 40

Scoring: RR, Dominic Valencia 64 pass from J.J. Arellano (kick failed); RR, Anthony Raymer 26 pass from Noah Nelson (kick failed); E, JP Ludi 1 run (Emiliano Morrison kick); RR, Rayce Ramirez 2 run (Bryson Strohecker kick); E, Josiah Mitchell 27 pass from Brandon Olivas (Morrison kick); RR, Raymer 45 pass from Arellano (Strohecker kick); RR, Ethan Rolon 50 pass from Arellano (Strohecker kick); E, Jessie Wells 25 pass from Olivas (run failed); RR, Raymer 60 run (Strohecker kick); E, Mitchell 13 pass from Olivas (kick blocked). Records: RR 1-1; E 1-1.

First downs: E 13; RR 17. Rushes-yards: E 23-59; RR 38-250. Passing: E 22-46-1—226; RR 14-25-1—273. Total offense: E 285; RR 523. Punts-avg.: E 5-38.0; RR 5-32.4. Fumbles-lost: E 4-1; RR 1-0. Penalties-yards: E 5-35; RR 9-70.

High school football photos: Rio Rancho vs. Eldorado