Football Preview: Rio Rancho Rams vs. Sandia Matadors
Rio Rancho has gone 3-0 against Sandia recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Rio Rancho Rams will be staying on the road to face off against the Sandia Matadors at 7:00 p.m. Rio Rancho is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 26.4 points per game this season.
Rio Rancho is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: Cleveland, who was ranked third in their home state at the time (Rio Rancho was ranked ninth). Rio Rancho was beaten by Cleveland 40-12 on Friday. Having soared to a lofty 34 points in the game before, the Rams couldn't push the score so high this time.
Loss or not, Rio Rancho got some senior leadership from Jace Pitt and Jj Arellano. Pitt picked up 111 receiving yards and a touchdown, while Arellano threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Those 250 passing yards set a new season-high mark for Arellano.
Meanwhile, Sandia fell victim to Los Lunas and their airtight defense on Friday. They had to suffer through a 44-0 loss at the hands of the Tigers. The Matadors haven't had much luck with the Tigers recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Rio Rancho's defeat dropped their record down to 6-4. As for Sandia, their loss dropped their record down to 5-5.
Everything came up roses for Rio Rancho against Sandia in their previous meeting back in November of 2023, as the squad secured a 38-6 win. In that contest, Rio Rancho amassed a halftime lead of 24-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
