Rams struggle against Seton Catholic on homecoming

With packed stands and painted faces, Ram pride was in full force at Maricopa High School’s homecoming Friday. While a fun night for students and community members alike, the Seton Catholic Sentinels made sure it wasn’t a complete party as they defeated the Rams 59-27.

“The support from the community has been fantastic,” said head coach Chris McDonald. “I’m disappointed in myself with our performance. We thought we were pretty well prepared going in. We are going back to the drawing board.”

Seton struck first on a three-play drive that ended with a 22-yard touchdown run by running back Antonio Campanella.

The Rams answered on their first possession as a roughing-the-punter penalty extended their first drive.

Quarterback Aaron Owens took advantage hitting senior wide receiver Geovanni Walker on a few strikes to march the ball down the field before finishing the drive with a two-yard touchdown run.

Walker was one of the bright spots on the night putting together an impressive all-around performance. He gained 65 yard receiving, 16 rushing yards, a fumble recovery and a 75-yard kickoff return. Walker’s kickoff return set up a 41-yard field goal by Christian Ramirez with 4:13 left in the second quarter to trim the Seton lead to 29-13.

The Sentinels answered with two late second-quarter touchdowns on 69-yard and 20-yard passes from quarterback Zach Wade to give them a commanding 43-13 lead going into the half.

McDonald kept morale up with his halftime speech.

“I told my guys that last quarter and a half of football isn’t going to define us,” McDonald said. “The season is a marathon, not a sprint, and the goal is to continue to improve every day.”

The Rams showed life in the second half and put together an impressive scoring drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by running back Hezzy Turner.

They struck again when Owens found wide receiver Johnny Johnson in the end zone for a nine-yard score to make it 59-27 with less than a minute remaining.

Elisha Donaldson led the Rams in receiving – just as he did in the opener against Tempe – with seven catches for 83 yards.

McDonald and his coaching staff had a long meeting to breakdown film Saturday morning and decided to use more of a “two-platoon” system allowing players to focus on playing offense or defense.

Their focus is now on next week’s matchup with Williams Field High School.

“When we looked at our schedule at the beginning of the season we decided that this would probably be the best team we play all year,” said McDonald.

McDonald said his status as a new coach is no excuse for a slow start.

“I’m not the type who believes it’s going to take time to build the program up and start winning. I want to win now,” said McDonald.

The Rams next game is at home Friday against Williams Field. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.