How one-sided was Rio Rancho's 10-0 victory Saturday afternoon against visiting Gallup?

Glad you asked.

It was so one-sided that the Rams' starting goalkeeper, Spencer Porter, came closer to scoring than the entire Gallup team. After spending the first half in goal and trying to stay awake, Porter was inserted at a forward position in the second half, during which the Rams bamboozled the Bengals with eight goals, ending the game a few minutes early because of the 10-goal mercy rule.

Asa Scott had a hat trick, his first goals of the season, and the Madding brothers combined for four more as the Rams won their fourth game via shutout in a row and their winning streak increased to five.

Scott scored in the 11th minute, while Trevor Madding, off a pass from Jared Payne, scored in the 35th minute to give the Rams a 2-0 lead at intermission.

The second half was all Rio Rancho, with Gallup rarely - if ever - crossing midfield as the Rams poured it on.

Mike Perry scored off an assist from Danny Crouch in the 42nd minute. Three minutes later, the score became 4-0 when Scott scored his second goal of the game and Crouch earned his second assist.

The game, if not already out of reach for the Bengals (5-9, 0-5), definitely became a challenge for them to see if they could spoil the Rams' shutout bid or make the game last its scheduled 40 minutes.

The answers were no and no.

Herrera made it 5-0 in the 48th minute, with Scott credited with an assist, and it became 6-0 when Madding scored in the 54th minute, as James Bajek got an assist.

Scott completed his hat trick in the 56th minute, then picked up his second assist two minutes later on Madding's third tally of the game.

Kenny McAvoy scored off a pass from Javier Gomez in the 64th minute for 9-0, and the Rams then went through a 10-minute scoring drought before Aaron Madding ended the madness with a goal that floated over the GHS goalkeeper's head in the 74th minute.

Rams coach John Shepard was asked if his team was playing over its heads or if the Bengals were just plain awful that afternoon.

"We've been working on controlling a game and I feel like our guys went out and controlled the game today," he said, refusing to call it the Rams' best game of 2006.

"As a coach, I'm never quite satisfied; I think we can do better," he said.

Shepard was asked if it was possible for his guys to become complacent as they seemingly run away with a district championship.

"I like to think that we have our goals pretty well set in our heads," he said. "Complacent is one thing we have talked about; we said we can't get complacent because we have bigger fish to fry."

Then asked who those "bigger fish" could be, Shepard thought a moment before replying, "I'd like to finish off district with some good, strong wins," he replied. "I think Cibola's going to give us a better game; I think West Mesa, as you know, is always tough for us.

"We focus on playing better every day and improving something every day, so that helps us stay focused," he said.

Rams 2, Cibola 1: The Rams (9-5, 6-0) needed overtime to fry the fish known as the Cougars and move within one victory of winning the district championship again.

One more Rams' victory guarantees the team of no worse than a 7-2 record; any other district team finishing with two losses would lose via a tie-breaker, because both of its losses would have been against the Rams.

Scott again had the hot hand (er, foot), as he scored in the 46th minute to give the host Rams a 1-0 lead early in the second half.

Cibola (8-7, 2-4) knotted the game in the 65th minute when Luciano Garcia scored.

The game ended when McAvoy found the back of the net with just less than seven minutes to go in the second overtime.

"We should have done better, in my opinion," Shepard said. "Cibola played a lot better (than in the first meeting, a 7-0 Rams victory)."

Headers: Rio Rancho can clinch the 1-5A championship Friday at "Senior Night," when his Rams face West Mesa, which is 4-2 in district action, at 5:30 p.m. at Rio Rancho Stadium. The team has 10 seniors: Payne, Bajek, Zach Herbst, Crouch, the Maddings, Garrett Smith, Herrera, Scott and Chris Bethony, who suffered a broken foot before the season began and has played in just one game all season.

... Since the New Mexico Activities Association expanded the high school ranks to five classifications in 2000, and the Rams were placed in District 1-5A, they have been to the postseason four times, knocked out in the regionals'quarterfinals by Sandia in 2000, 2001 and 2004, and then getting as far as the semifinal round last year. In 2005, the Rams won the district championship and a "Round of 16" game plus a quarterfinal game, before falling to Eldorado, 3-0, in a semifinal at the soccer complex.

... The Rams close out the regular season next week with a game at Gallup on Wednesday and another meeting with Cibola on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the soccer complex.

... The Rams' junior varsity team also whitewashed the Bengals 10-0, on Saturday.

... In a reunion of sorts for three former Rams in Portales on Friday, visiting Regis University beat the host Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds 2-1. Former Rams Adam Diehl started for ENMU and former Rams 'keeper Wally Fink saw action as a sub for Regis. Keith Vargas, on a recent hot streak for the Greyhounds, did not play in the game. It was a rather physical game, with 23 fouls called on Regis and eight against ENMU; each team scored on a penalty kick.

... The visiting Rio Rancho C-team beat Sandia Prep 6-0 last Tuesday, as Daniel Torrez and Raymond Gonzalez scored two goals apiece and Collin Soto and Zach McKinney added a goal each. On Saturday, Cody Byrne, Tyler Jimenez, Joseph Seligman and Morgan Mahboub scored in the Rams' 4-1 victory over Cibola.

... In spite of what has grown to a six-game winning streak, the Rams slipped one spot in the latest rankings, from seventh to eighth, this week. The Rams were passed by Gadsden, which was 15th last week.