Rams set to kick off regular season at Buckeye

Two scrimmages, four weeks of training camp, several months of weightlifting and countless hours of studying the playbook have all led up to this week’s game for the Maricopa High School football team.

The Rams of first-year head coach Cory Nenaber are about to begin playing games that count, starting with Friday night’s regular-season opener at Buckeye.

“The goal of the coaching staff is to make sure we’re ready,” Nenaber said following Monday afternoon’s practice at the Maricopa stadium. “I feel like when you get to this point, when you get to the game week, it’s like finally here. It’s almost like, we’ve been doing this for so long, and we’re glad it’s here. You just hope the first game that you can minimize the mental mistakes and focus on things you’ve been taught – try not to let the emotion get the best of you. Whoever controls emotion and makes the least amount of mental mistakes will probably win the game.”

The Rams will be lining up against a formidable Buckeye team on Friday. The Hawks of head coach Bobby Barnes, who qualified for the Class 4A-II state playoffs last year and finished with an 8-3 record, began their 2010 season last weekend with a 10-9 loss to the highly-regarded Peoria Panthers.

“It was a very good football game,” said Nenaber, who attended the contest at Peoria. “It could have gone either way, down to the wire.”

Nenaber was impressed by what he saw from the Hawks.

“They’re pretty good,” Nenaber said. “They’re big up front. They’ve got some pretty good skill guys. They had a really hard-fought, emotional game on Friday night. I think they’ll be ready. I hope we are. You know, first games are a little bit hard to predict. But I think they’re pretty good. We’re going to have to play well to beat them.”

While players and coaches always look forward to starting the regular season, Friday’s opener carries added anticipation for Nenaber, who will be leading the Rams in his first game as a varsity head coach.

“It’s really exciting,” Nenaber said. “We’ve worked a long time. The coaching staff, we’ve been working since last May for this chance. We know what we get ourselves into. People judge the success of your season on wins and losses. So we know how important that is. We hope that we are at the point where we start to feel a little confident in our program, and we’re going to do the little things right. We’re going to block and tackle pretty well. We’re excited. I’m sure Thursday I won’t sleep very much.”

In talking about keys to a successful season for the Rams, Nenaber pointed to turnover ratio, special teams’ proficiency and teamwork.

“I read Tony Dungy’s book called ‘Quiet Strength,’” Nenaber said, referring to the Super Bowl-winning former NFL head coach. “For the Colts he had a few goals, and some of them stick out in my brain that just are football in general. We want to be the best at the turnover ratio. We want to take the ball away, and we don’t want to turn it over. I think if we’re positive in that and do that, we’ll have a very good season. And we want to be one of the best special teams programs around. I think with that, that’s going to be a huge advantage for us.

“And then as long as we do the things that we’re coached to do – and don’t try to play individually and have each guy do their own thing – if we play together as a team and really rely on each other, we will be much better off.”

Following Friday’s season opener at Buckeye, the Rams will play road games at Buckeye Youngker on Sept. 10 and at Page on Sept. 17. Maricopa’s first home game – and first contest in the Class 4A-II East Sky Region – is scheduled for Sept. 24 against Gilbert Higley.

The Rams’ other three home games this season will be against Scottsdale Coronado (Oct. 1, Homecoming), Scottsdale Notre Dame (Oct. 22) and Chandler Seton Catholic (Oct. 29). Maricopa will play road games during the second half of the season at Phoenix Arcadia (Oct. 8), Gilbert Williams Field (Oct. 15) and Tempe (Nov. 5).

The following is a position-by-position list of the Rams’ projected starters and top reserves:

Quarterback: Patrick Davis
Running back: Brian Nechamkin, Patrick Duffy, Tim Samuels
Wide receiver: Darrius Oldham, K.J. Diehl, Ryan Sarver, Travis Brown, Justin Warren, Armando Cano
Tight end: Spencer Wilson
Offensive tackle: Phil Kessler, Chris Piceno
Offensive guard: Joey Kelly, Sean Dodge
Center: Carlos Ruiz
Defensive end: Spencer Wilson, Joey Kelly
Defensive tackle: Sean Dodge, Carlos Ruiz, Chris Piceno, Josh Addington
Linebacker: Brian Nechamkin, Ryan Sarver, Patrick Duffy
Cornerback: K.J. Diehl, Randel Barber
Safety: Travis Brown, Armando Cano

Photo by Tom Kessler