Football Preview: Rio Rancho Rams vs. Eastlake Falcons
The Rio Rancho Rams will take on the Eastlake Falcons at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Rio Rancho is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: Centennial, who was ranked second in their home state at the time (Rio Rancho was ranked tenth). The match between Rio Rancho and Centennial wasn't particularly close, with Rio Rancho falling 43-27. The Rams have struggled against the Hawks recently, as their game on Friday was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Micah Takahashi, who rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries, and also threw for 53 yards and a touchdown. Another pass catcher making a difference was Parker Miller, who picked up 33 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Eastlake lost to Liberty Hill on the road by a 49-35 margin on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Falcons can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 381st, while the Panthers are ranked 140th).
Eastlake's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Luke Lomeli, who threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns, and Jordan Reveles, who picked up 97 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Reveles showed off some serious burst, connecting on a big catch for 66 yards.
Rio Rancho's loss ended a six-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 2-2. As for Eastlake, they now have a losing record at 1-2.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Rio Rancho has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 164.8 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Eastlake has preferred to attack from the air: they average 341.3 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Rio Rancho was dealt a bruising 35-7 defeat at the hands of Eastlake when the teams last played back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lomeli, who rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.2 yards per attempt. Now that Rio Rancho knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
