Rams’ Revival: Desert Mirage football running in the right direction

Coming off their first win since the 2015 season, the Desert Mirage Rams football team is looking forward to the league season and beyond, as they try to build their program.

“To see those kids faces after that victory on Friday is something that ranks up there with all those accomplishments” said head coach Eric Perry.

It was just one win. But for Desert Mirage it was much more than that, as they ended the long run of losing that lasted from the 2015 season.

“Everybody’s hyped and happy to see us win for once and Monday we came back from school and everybody was saying congrats. It felt good actually to win,” said Ricardo Monroy.

“It felt really good being apart of it. We had to work on a lot of things through the week and we played hard on that Friday.” said Manny Ridge.

For that moment in time, Desert Mirage didn’t have to deal with a loss. Except for Manny Ridge. The junior star running back leads the team in carries. But he carries a much heavier burden every day.

“Recently my father just had a heart attack and he died, sadly. I believe he is the one who finds the holes for me and I use my skill to find the holes, too and hit them hard,” said Ridge.

Manny’s father would be proud of his son. Football is what he wanted him to do. And although nobody will ever fill that void completely – first year head coach Eric Perry is at least trying.

“Coach Perry in his first year is a great mentor. I think of him as a father figure,” said Ridge.

“I’m just a PE teacher, I don’t think I’m anything special. I think the kids have bought in and they’re the ones that have to play on Friday night,” said Perry.

“He treats us well and he just expects us and demands a lot from us,” said Monroy.

So does the schedule. The Rams start league next week and know the challenges ahead of them.

“We have 4 games left out of our 5 game league schedule that are better than any team we’ve faced so far. We just want to get better every day, get better every play,” said Perry.

It’s not a mirage. The Rams resurgence is for real.

“For the future, this team is going to be something solid,” said Monroy.

“It’s phenomenal. I can’t ask for anything better,” said Ridge.

“It’s going down in the DM!”

“Ooh ah game time – game time! Ooh ah game time – game time! Ooh ah game time – game time!”