Rancho beats Western to snap 19-game losing streak

Looking out towards the south end of Rancho’s football stadium Friday, senior running back Ethan Overson stared at the scoreboard, in awe of what was displayed: Rancho 30, Visitor 7.

“For two years I didn’t win a single game on varsity,” he said. “It’s the first time I have had that scoreboard flip-flopped. I’m proud of that.”

The Rams ended a 19-game losing streak, and even though the “visitor” represented on the scoreboard was Western — a program also down on its luck in recent years — it made it no less meaningful to Overson and the Rams.

“Looking at that…makes me want to cry,” Overson said. “It makes me want to cry.”

Overson was a big part of the victory — the Rams’ first since a 16-14 triumph at Del Sol on October 23, 2015, and their first home win since a 34-14 win over Valley on August 28, 2015.

He scored on runs of 6 and 10 yards, and had 15 carries for 106 yards for Rancho (1-1), which rolled up 379 yards — all on the ground.

“The line was doing their job and the running backs were doing their job,” Overson said. “We were executing well. … It was nice, especially when I had the ball.”

Areaun Everett led the Rams with 152 yards rushing on 16 carries. He also scored their first touchdown of the game on a 20-yard sweep to the right sideline that put Rancho up 6-0 with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.

“We have been working hard for this over the summer,” he said. “The line was amazing. They were chipping away at the defense and not backing down.”

Rancho’s lead swelled to 18-0 before Western quarterback Hausaun Blackburn put the Warriors on the board with 1:28 left in the first half on a nifty 33-yard keeper.

In the second half, Western looked in position to close the gap further with 3:52 left in the third quarter. Rancho punted and was ticketed with fair catch interference to set the Warriors up with the ball on the Rancho 35.

But Rancho’s defense stood tall and forced two incompletions to end the threat. The Rams seized control for good, as Everett exploded on a 49-yard run on the ensuing play. Giante Jackson bulled his way into the endzone from 2 yards out to extend the Ram lead to 24-7.

And the Rams started to fully realize they were on the way to a victory.

“When we figured out we had this game, it felt amazing,” Everett said. “It felt amazing.”