Rams football blitzed by Arcadia, 53-0

Using a smothering blitz and speed on the outside, Phoenix Arcadia prevented Maricopa from developing any kind of offense and went on to a 53-0 victory tonight at the Maricopa High School stadium.

“That’s a good old-fashioned butt kicking, is what that is,” Rams head coach Cory Nenaber said after the game. “We just kind of got tossed around a little bit. It’s not fun. This is where character comes from. Part of being a high school football coach is turning everything, good and bad, into a learning experience and we’re going to keep doing that.

“Character is what you do when the chips are down, when things are tough. I’m proud of the kids for still being here. I’m proud of the kids for sticking with it. I told them, we’re going to get up tomorrow, there’s going to be times in your life when it’s hard to get up the next day. But you have to get up and fight through it because there will be better days.”

Aracadia used a powerful ground attack to run up 385 yards rushing on 55 carries, while limiting the Rams to minus nine in 24 attempts.

The Titans were led by Sosaia Maafu, who picked up 101 yards on 11 tries, with 79 yards coming before halftime. In addition, D.J. Warrick gained 72, Steven Moala 72, Ryan Teefy 59 and Ryan Fochtman 59 as coach Jim Ellison substituted liberally in the second half after his team led 28-0 after the break.

The Titans set the tone early, after forcing the Rams to a three-and-out on the first possession of the game, going 79 yards in just six plays with Fochtman taking it in from 29 yards for one of his three touchdowns for the night.

Maricopa, on the other hand, shot itself in the foot on several occasions, allowing AHS to score four times after fumbles gave the Titans possession on the Rams’ 19 twice, the 34 once and Titans’ 48 another time.

The Arcadia defense stifled MHS, keeping the Rams from executing the offense Nenaber had envisioned. He had wanted his team to try to get the ball wide and pass more than in previous games to offset the Titans’ blitz.

***ADVERTISEMENT***“That 3-5 front is really hard to simulate in practice,” Nenaber said. “Especially with the speed and athletic ability of those guys that are blitzing. But we turned the ball over so many times that it’s hard to get any kind of rhythm, or flow, when you do that as many times as we did in the second half.”

The Rams did have a few bright spots. Tim Boyer recovered a fumble at the Arcadia 48, but two plays later Maricopa gave it right back.

Late in the game, Randel Barber came close to breaking a kickoff return for a TD, taking the ball from his own two to the Titans’ 25 before being pushed out of bounds.

“There’s always a silver lining, and you would drive yourself crazy if you didn’t try to find it. We played a lot of kids tonight,” Nenaber said.

The Rams will host senior night against Scottsdale Coronado in an unusual Thursday night game at 7 p.m. at the MHS stadium next week.