Confident Rams travel to Casa Grande Friday

A re-established sense of self confidence will travel with the Maricopa High School football team Friday to Casa Grande as the Rams play the first of three season-ending road games.

MHS (1-6, 0-3 in Division III, Section I) is coming off a 48-34 pasting of Scottsdale Coronado, a game that wasn’t as close as the final score might indicate. The Rams were leading 41-6 entering the fourth quarter when head coach Cory Nenaber gave every player of the roster considerable playing time.

“I really liked the confidence we played with last week,” Nenaber said. “There was just a different atmosphere on our sideline. I don’t know what it was, the red uniforms or what, but there was confidence, a little bit of a swagger, and I liked it. I think those kids truly believed that they were going to win that game.”

Defeating Casa Grande 2-5, 0-3) will entail much of the priorities as went into the Coronado win. The Cougars are a running team, led by senior James Colbert who has gained 995 yards in seven games on just 138 carries.

“He’s pretty good. If you give him space he can run,” Nenaber said. Of Colbert’s 995 yards, 482 have come in the Cougars’ two victories, both over Division V schools. In CGHS’s last two contests het has picked up only 128 yards on 40 carries. “We want to contain him. We don’t want him to break off any big runs. If we can stop that I think we’ll be in good shape,” Nenaber said. “They’re probably saying the same thing we are, ‘we’ve got to stop number four (Randel Barber).’” Ironically, both players wear number four.

Barber had another big game against Coronado, gaining 134 yards with three touchdowns, and added a fourth TD on a 98-yard kickoff return. He now has 624 yards on the season, but has faced stronger defenses than has Colbert. The six teams that have defeated Maricopa now have a combined record of 31-11.

The Rams also established their best passing attack of the year against Coronado with quarterback Dallas Speer throwing for 152 yards, primarily to Rico Johnson. The pair connected on a 98-yard TD.

***ADVERTISEMENT***It has been a good week of practice for Maricopa. Not only is the mental attitude of a team coming off a win better, but it has also been fall break, making things a little easier.

“We’re right where we want to be as far as improving, growing up and starting to mature a little bit,” Nenaber said. “We’ve had some of the best practices we’ve had all season this week.”

Nenaber was especially proud of his freshman and JV teams which joined the varsity and completed the first program sweep in his two seasons as head coach. All three teams defeated Coronado a week ago, and both the younger squads are showing marked improvement from a year ago.

“It’s going to be a really good football game,” Nenaber predicted of Friday’s contest. “I think we’re pretty evenly matched.”

Game time is at 7 p.m. at the Cougars’ Field, 2730 N. Trekell Road in Casa Grande.