Rams seek to avenge only loss of 2016

PORTALES — The Portales Rams’ 2016 4A championship season was nearly perfect, as just one blemish appeared on their otherwise flawless 12-1 record.

That blemish was Dexter, which will look to give the Rams fits again and 2017, and this time, double the Rams’ loss total.

Portales lost for the first time in almost an entire calendar year — or 11 games, when it traveled to Santa Fe to face St. Michael’s last weekend. A back-and-forth affair ended when Portales scored with 1:20 remaining, cutting the deficit down to 21-20.

However, star quarterback Tyrese Dawson got injured on the score, forcing the Rams to bring in backup quarterback Julian Urioste to attempt the two-point conversion to go ahead. Urioste’s keeper included a dive for the right pylon, where he appeared to make contact with for the go-ahead score — but the referees saw it a different way.

Now, Portales (3-1) will have to face a foe that took them down 24-13 a year ago, but this time on the road at Dexter.

“They’re well-coached,” Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said. “They do a great job of coaching their kids, getting them ready to play. Their kids play hard and it’s always a good game between us and Dexter.”

Dexter (3-1), like St. Michael’s, runs a multi-formational offense. Some sets are run-heavy, while others are pass-heavy, meaning that the entire Rams defense must be on its heels the entire game.

Defensively, the Demons are always in some sort of a seven-man front, usually either 5-2 or 4-3. For Portales, while that may not phase their offense most weeks, this week provides a different challenge.

Dawson is still considered day-to-day with his sprained knee, and for now, the Rams have Urioste penciled in as tonight’s starter. The 5-foot-11, 140 pound junior will certainly have a tough task ahead of him, but Ramirez is confident.

“Julian’s been running the quarterback all year long,” Ramirez explained. “He did 7-on-7 with us this year, and he’s been a quarterback his whole life. He’s been getting the reps every week at the quarterback, so I feel confident running the offense with Julian or with Tyrese.”

For the Rams, this week has been as much about getting healthy as it has been about bouncing back from a tough loss. The Rams allowed 190 rushing yards in its loss to the Horsemen and struggled to defend a basic I-Formation.

However, a better week of practice has Ramirez feeling optimistic about his team’s chances of getting back on track this week. “Practice has been much better this week, a little bit more focused,” Ramirez explained.

“We’ve had some guys that have been banged up a little bit, so getting them healed has been the focus of this week, (as well as) getting better at what we do. Last week, we made a lot of mistakes and we want to improve on those and make our wrongs rights.”