Football Preview: Rancho Mirage Rattlers vs. Coachella Valley Mighty Arabs
The Rancho Mirage Rattlers will look to take advantage of their home-field for the first time this season as they take on the Coachella Valley Mighty Arabs at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Rancho Mirage is headed into their home opener looking to turn things around after opening their season on the road. They were dealt a 42-0 defeat at the hands of Farrington on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Rattlers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' football rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 310th in California, while the Governors are ranked ninth in Hawaii).
Rancho Mirage didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Kobee Finnikin.
Meanwhile, Coachella Valley gave their fans exactly what they wanted out of a home opener on Friday. They breezed by Xavier Prep at home to the tune of 27-0.
Aaron Ramirez had a dynamite game for Coachella Valley, rushing for 155 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.6 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Derek Calderon, who threw for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Coachella Valley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 208 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 171 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Everything came up roses for Rancho Mirage against Coachella Valley in their previous meeting back in August of 2019 as the team secured a 31-0 win. Will Rancho Mirage repeat their success, or does Coachella Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps