Football Preview: Rio Rancho Rams vs. Cleveland Storm
Rio Rancho hasn't had much luck against Cleveland recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Rio Rancho Rams are taking a road trip to challenge the Cleveland Storm at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Rio Rancho is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: Farmington, who was ranked 11th in their home state at the time (Rio Rancho was ranked ninth). Rio Rancho came out on top against Farmington by a score of 34-23 on Friday.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Rio Rancho to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jace Pitt, who picked up 140 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Jj Arellano, who threw for 218 yards and four touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Cleveland entered their tilt with Volcano Vista on Friday with seven consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with eight. They took their contest with ease, bagging a 38-3 win over the Hawks. The Storm might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven games by 22 points or more this season.
A big part of Cleveland's victory came down to the chemistry between Jacob Maldonado and his top target Jordan Hatch. Maldonado picked up 138 receiving yards and three touchdowns while Hatch threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.3 yards per attempt.
Rio Rancho is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season. As for Cleveland, they pushed their record up to 8-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home.
Friday's match will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Micah Takahashi and Hatch. Takahashi has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 85 passing yards and has 8 passing touchdowns on the season. For his part, Hatch has averaged 170 passing yards and has 22 passing touchdowns on the season.
Rio Rancho took a serious blow against Cleveland when the teams last played back in November of 2023, falling 38-7. Thankfully for Rio Rancho, Harris Mbueha (who rushed for 159 yards and three touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
