Rams rule again
Rio Rancho’s Rams batter Las Cruces for 6A crown
For the second time in three years, Rio Rancho High finishes with perfect season, championship
RIO RANCHO — It was an anticlimactic finish, to be sure — but a perfect finish nonetheless.
Most of the ingredients that went into this undefeated season for the Rio Rancho Rams were on display again on a brilliantly lit Saturday afternoon in the Class 6A state championship football game at Rio Rancho.
In short, it involved healthy doses of Josh Foley and that stifling defense.
Throw in the work of a kid named Zeneth, and the Rams reached the zenith of prep football for the second time in three years.
Foley capped his spectacular season — and high school career — with 192 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and Zeneth Klövenas rushed for a pair of scores and recorded 2½ sacks as No. 1 seed Rio Rancho pulled away in the second half for a 39-17 victory over No. 3 Las Cruces.
“It was a long process,” said Rio Rancho quarterback Nic Little, “that came out with what we have been working for since the summer.”
Rio Rancho completed a 13-0 season, just as it did in 2014. This one was played out before a crowd estimated at 5,000 fans. “It’s surreal,” said Klövenas.
The Rams scored 33 of the game’s final 36
points after trailing 14-6.
They also outscored the Bulldawgs 18-0 in the second half, which was disastrous for Las Cruces (11-2). Its three best offensive players were knocked out of the game, a crucial fourth-down call backfired and the Rio Rancho defense, the single defining unit of this season in the 6A division, went to work.
“During the offseason, we were trying to find an identity,” said outside linebacker Klövenas. “And the defense took it upon itself to be the identity for this team.”
A thrilling, back-and-forth first half gave way to a second half that produced little drama or excitement.
If there was one sequence that tilted this game in the Rams’ direction, it occurred on Las Cruces’ opening drive of the second half. The Bulldawgs, trailing 21-17, faced a fourth-and-3 from their 40 and boldly tried to convert the first down. Las Cruces not only didn’t convert, but it botched the play and fumbled.
“I wanted to see if they would show us the defense we wanted,” Las Cruces coach Mark Lopez said. The Rams did, but the play still failed miserably. “It was lack of execution at a key time.”
Six plays later, Foley scored from the 4, and the Rams stretched their lead to 27-17.
Little upped the advantage to 33-17 with a 5-yard TD run late in the third, and Foley added the final nail, an 85-yard scoring run along the near sideline with 8:16 remaining in the game.
“It’s just a dream come true to have a goal and be able to accomplish it the way we did,” said Foley, who also was instrumental in the passing game for the Rams, catching five passes for 121 yards.
Rio Rancho limited Las Cruces to 83 rushing yards, but more than half of those (47) were in the fourth quarter when the game was no longer in doubt. Running back Ryan Beltran was ineffective. So was quarterback Payton Ball, who got knocked out of the game (lower back/hip) early in the fourth quarter, when it was still a two-score lead at 33-17.
His two top receivers were already on the sidelines: Ivan Molina (hamstring) went out in the second quarter, Brandon Baeza (likely sustaining a concussion when absorbing a mammoth hit on a crossing pattern) in the third.
With the Las Cruces stars not on the field, hope of a comeback for Las Cruces was out of the question.
“Our guys fought to the end, but they’re big, fast and physical — everything as advertised,” Lopez said of the Rams.
The first half was hugely entertaining. Ball opened the scoring with a 1-yard run late in the first quarter and Klövenas scored from the 3, three plays into the second quarter. Rio Rancho missed the PAT — the Rams missed four of them Saturday — and trailed 7-6.
Molina grabbed a 20-yard TD pass from Ball on the Bulldawgs’ next series for a 14-6 lead.
But Rio Rancho answered immediately. Foley ran through a Las Cruces linebacker coming out of the backfield and broke free for a wide-open, short-range catch. Most of that 62-yard score was Foley outsprinting the Bulldawg secondary in the middle of the field. Little threw to Austin Hise for the 2-point conversion, and a 14-all game midway through the second quarter.
Gabe Quezada kicked a 30-yard field goal for Las Cruces for a 17-14 lead, but Klövenas scored again in the final minute of the half for the Rams.
“They just kept coming and kept coming and kept coming,” said Rio Rancho coach David Howes, who became the first active bigschool coach with two undefeated championship teams. “I couldn’t be prouder of this group. It can’t get any sweeter.”