Rams seek 3rd straight win visiting Coolidge Friday

Having turned a rough start to the season into a two-game winning streak, the Maricopa High School football team will try for its third straight victory under what will likely be more difficult circumstances. They travel to Coolidge for a 7 p.m. kickoff tomorrow night.

“We have to come out and work even harder now,” Cory Nenaber, MHS head coach said. “We’re not going to sneak up on anybody any more. The kids have really responded. When you get a win it’s much easier to come to work on Monday.”

Friday’s opponent, Coolidge, sports a much better record, 5-3, than either of the two teams Maricopa has defeated in the last two weeks, and features another in a long list of outstanding running backs the Rams have seen this season.

Bears’ senior Seth Ellis has put up some gaudy numbers. In eight games he has gained 1,438 yards on just 120 carries for an amazing average of nearly 12 yards every time he touches the ball. He has scored 27 touchdowns.

“We’ve got to keep No. 7 (Ellis) out of the end zone,” Nenaber said. “He’s going to gain yards, but we’ve got to keep him out of the end zone.” Only one team has been able to do that so far, Poston Butte, which crushed Coolidge 51-6. Other than that, he scored twice against San Tan Foothills last week and at least three times in every other game. Poston Butte held him to just 45 yards on 13 tries.

Maricopa counters with a fine running back of its own in Randel Barber. He has 886 yards on 142 attempts and 11 rushing touchdowns. He has had three TDs in each of the Rams’ two wins, plus another on a kickoff returns. He was slowed early when asked to play quarterback in the first few games.

The Rams’ rugged early-season schedule may work in their favor once again. Their first six opponents are now a combined 36-12, and facing teams of that caliber has convinced Nenaber that it helped his squad in the last two contests.

Coolidge, also, hasn’t faced Maricopa’s type of opponents. The only common foe has been Vista Grande, and that paints a bad picture for MHS. But the remainder of its slate doesn’t stack up with what the Rams have seen.

The Bears defeated Vista Grande in the season opener, 34-14, but that was the losers’ first varsity game ever. Vista Grande topped Maricopa, 40-25, a week later.

In its last five games however, CHS has allowed an average of over 46 points a game to mostly Division 4 and 5 foes.

“I think we will be able to score points,” Nenaber said. “We need to take care of the football and not give them any extra chances. We have to find a way to force a couple of turnovers, and capitalize on those.”

The game will be the second of three consecutive season-ending road contests.