Rams dominated by undefeated Eldoado

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Rio Rancho High’s hopes of taking the next step in the state football playoffs came to a crashing halt Saturday afternoon.

Second-ranked Eldorado used big plays and mistakes by the Rams for an easy 34-0 victory at Wilson Stadium in Albuquerque.

Eldorado got on the board for the first time less than four minutes in the game. After stopping the Rams 3-and-out on the first series, the Eagles took control at their own 25.

Eldorado was also stopped on three downs and was forced to punt. Rio Rancho’s Darren Archuleta fumbled at his 36 and the ball was recovered and advanced by Eldorado’s 33 at the Rio Rancho 23.

From there, it took the Eagles only one play to score, and again Archuleta was the victim. Eldorado quarterback 10 hit /Ross Williams in the front left corner of the end zone on the next play, and the Eagles rolled from there.

Rio Rancho got one first down on the ensuing drive before punting to Eldorado, and a holding call on the play pinned the Eagles at their own 15. Eldorado got one first down but the drive appeared doomed on an offensive pass interference call left the Eagles with a third-and-24, but Day connected with Jami Abdullah on a perfectly led throw down the right sideline that resulted in an Eagle first down at the Rio Rancho 30.

The Eagles scored four plays later, with Gary Maestas capping the drive with a 15-yard run.

Rio Rancho responded with its best drive of the half, getting two first downs including a pass interference call to move to the Eldorado 30 before the drive stalled with two straight incompletions.

The teams played field position for the next few minutes of the second quarter. A late hit out of bounds against Rio Rancho on a first down passing play gave the Eagles the ball at the Rams’ 41, and Eldorado moved ahead for its third score. The touchdown came on a 24-yard pass from Day to Williams, who was alone in the end zone, open by 10 yards. The extra point gave Eldorado a 21-0 lead with just over four minutes left in the half.

Less than three minutes later, the Eagles scored again. Eldorado defensive back Nick Schnedar picked off Tyler Baker’s third-down pass at the 26 yard lie and returned it to the Eagles’ 9. It took three fullback runs by Derrick Silva to score, but his one-yard plunge and the subsequent kick made it 28-0.

Eldorado added a third-quarter touchdown three plays into the period on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Day to Abdullah, who put a spin move on his defender and raced down the home sideline untouched. The kick failed, however, leaving Eldorado one point of shifting into running clock mode under the 35-point mercy rule.

It never came. Even though the Rams could not score, they put together a couple of short drives and played to gain enough field position to limit the damage. Rio Rancho got to the Eldorado 14 with less than four minutes to go in the game, but a fourth-and-8 pass was knocked away at the Rio Rancho 2.

 Eldorado will play host to Clovis in one state semifinal game next weekend.

Will be updated with quotes.