Owens leads balanced attack, Rams to 37-30 victory over Flowing Wells

The Maricopa Rams used a balanced offensive attack to bounce back from a heart-breaking loss to Canyon del Oro last week and beat Flowing Wells 37-30 Friday.

“We had about 280 yards passing and about 203 yards rushing and, aside from a couple miscues and a couple stagnant drives – we fumbled on the 1-yard line going into score, so we left seven points on the board – but our kids really came out and matched them physically,” head coach Chris McDonald said.

Junior quarterback Aaron Owens led the offense. He was 15 of 24 passing for 277 yards and three touchdowns, and he rushed for 94 yards. He also threw an interception.

Johnny Johnson, a junior, was on the receiving end of eight of those completions totaling 129 yards and two scores.

Senior running back Hezekiah Turner also had two touchdowns along with 107 yards on 15 carries.

Senior Elisha Donaldson caught two passes for 84 yards and a touchdown. “They were double-teaming him all night,” McDonald said.

The Rams (3-5) lost the turnover battle 3-1 but still handed Flowing Wells (6-2) their second loss of the season.

McDonald said the team is moving in the right direction: “We’ve won three out of our last four, and we’re playing some pretty good football in all honesty. We’re 48 seconds away from being undefeated in the section and having a real good opportunity of winning that if we would have pulled that one out against CDO. And they’re a top 10 team.

“From a defensive standpoint we’re getting better.”

McDonald said Maricopa has one of the three toughest schedules in the division, which could help them make the playoffs.

“We’re still keeping hope alive that we have an outside chance of sneaking into the playoffs due to our strength of schedule and due to who’ve played,” he said.

***ADVERTISEMENT***The Rams have two games left in the regular season – Friday at Casa Grande and Oct. 31 at home against Catalina Foothills.

“I’m confident in our team, McDonald said. “We’ve got to take care of business on our end, and Casa Grande is, in our eyes, just another obstacle along the way.”