Scrimmage Week: Los Lunas-Rio Rancho Recap & Video

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When preseason camp began for Rio Rancho on Aug. 1, junior [player_tooltip player_id='274972' first='Noah' last='Nelson'] held a slim lead in the battle for the Rams' starting quarterback job.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wednesday, he sealed the deal.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Showcasing his dual threat skills, Nelson led the Rio Rancho offense against the Los Lunas defense in an hour-long scrimmage at the Rams' stadium. Nelson was at his best running the football, sidestepping rushing Tigers defenders before racing for a first down on several occasions. His impressive ability to make plays with his feet has impressed first-year Rio Rancho head coach Nate Pino.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Afterwards, Pino confirmed to Prep Redzone New Mexico that Nelson had won the QB job and would start the Rams' season opener against La Cueva next Friday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Noah made some plays with his feet," Pino said. "He got us into the right situations. We don't take a lot of negative plays with him back there. He does a good job of avoiding sacks. He took care of the football tonight. We were pretty efficient. He's a dual threat guy. You have to respect him running the football and throwing it. Running the ball is an element he gives us. We've made a good living here at Rio Rancho with athletic quarterbacks in the last five or six years. If you have to defend the quarterback in the run game, it's an extra hat the defense has to worry about."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='275082' first='Dominic' last='Valencia'], who had been competing with Nelson for the starting QB job, lined up at receiver Wednesday night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Except for one long pass completion for a touchdown that was the result of a busted coverage, the Los Lunas offense, as expected, relied extensively on the feet of dynamic dual threat quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='137885' first='Paul' last='Cieremans']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pino was pleased with how the Rams performed on both sides of the ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Defensively, we got after it," Pino said. "We were flying to the football. We gave up one big play, which is something we talked about after the scrimmage. We have to clean that up. Offensively, we played with a good pace. We were physical up front. We took what the passing game gave us."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Part 1: Los Lunas vs. Rio Rancho</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/hE_Ix5LKkBU","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/hE_Ix5LKkBU </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Part 2: Los Lunas vs. Rio Rancho</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/mfCdqQ3mmCM","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/mfCdqQ3mmCM </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Part 3: Los Lunas vs. Rio Rancho</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/wrSDOrSzgp4","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/wrSDOrSzgp4 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->