One thing that never changes from year to year is Rio Rancho High School varsity boys soccer coach John Shepard.

He’s never boisterous, never self-deprecating. He likes to talk about soccer but he’ll never let anyone think his Rams are the best team in the state.

Of course, in light of the opening of Cleveland High and the loss of several of his underclassmen to the Storm, this wouldn’t be the best time to predict a blue trophy for the Rams, who have never gotten beyond the state semifinals.

Patrick Sanchez (20) works to control the ball as teammate Sam Herbst looks on in the Rams' 3-0 opening-game win over Clovis.

The Rams have won the last four District 1-5A championships and have advanced to the postseason each time, getting knocked out of the semis in 2005 by Eldorado, 3-0, and last year by Mayfield, 1-0.

Nonetheless, Shepard likes what he’s seen so far – who wouldn’t with a 4-0 record and without allowing a goal? – as the Rams prepared for s showdown with perennial South powerhouse Las Cruces yesterday at RRHS.

The Rams were ranked third, the Bulldawgs were ranked seventh in Class 5A by coaches in the nmsoccer.com poll last week.

Losing a portion of last year’s roster to Cleveland High is a short-term setback, Shepard said.

“It’s just a different challenge. We’re happy Cleveland has such a bunch of good guys to start off with and I’m happy I have a good bunch of guys. We knew the split had to happen,” he said.

Last weekend, the Rams won the 13th annual Louie Cernicek Memorial Soccer Tournament – in Los Alamos tournament for the second year in a row. Through their first four games, they had not given up a goal.

After opening the season with a 3-0 victory on Aug. 22 over visiting Clovis, with goals by Javier Gomez, Daniel Torrez and Jeremy Rasmussen, Rio Rancho opened the eight-team Los Alamos tournament with a 5-0 rout of Class 4A Moriarty.

Pat Matthews, Gomez, Tyler Jimenez (scoring on a penalty kick), Colin Soto and Tom Guarino found the back of the net.

The Rams’ semifinal and championship victory were by 1-0 scores, which says a little something about the team’s defense and goalkeeping prowess.

“We have excellent goalkeeping,” Shepard said, meaning Devin Potter is the starter, with exceptional backup when needed from Guarino and Bryan Morales.

Guarino scored the game-winner against the Coyotes, while Sam Herbst netted the game-winner in the championship game against Clovis, a team the Rams beat 3-0 in their opener.

Shepard said Roswell has a good team this season; the Coyotes are ranked third in Class 4A. “I think they can b a spoiler,” he said, happy with the narrow win. “In my opinion, we dominated the game.”

As for the two-goal turnaround in the victory over the Wildcats, Shepard said, “We went in a little overconfident, having beat Clovis the week before. There was a two-hour lightning delay before the third-place game; we didn’t play well in the final game.”

Three Rams drew acclaim in Los Alamos: Pat Sanchez was named the tournament’s defensive MVP, Gomez was the offensive MVP, and those two, plus Potter, were named to the all-tournament team.

In retrospect, Shepard said, “The goalkeeper that impressed me the most was Moriarty’s – he was fantastic. We were shelling him and he came up huge. Obviously, our goalkeepers don’t get tested that much.”

The reason for that? “The strength of our team is our defense,” Shepard said.

That said, “We are still trying to find our offensive groove, find enough offense to suit me,” he said, realizing “our youth and inexperience.”

Gomez, he said, “is one of the best, if not the best, in the state, but he can’t carry it himself.”

Thus, shaping the team to continue to be strong defensively and between the pipes while tweaking the offense to out-score opponents is Shepard’s task.

“That’s one of the reasons I love coaching; you can develop players and make things happen,” he said, eagerly anticipating his team’s meeting with No. 6 Las Cruces. “It’s so easy – these guys have the best attitudes. The seniors have great work ethics, the young guys love to play -- it’s been great working with them so far.”

The Rams won’t rest on their streak of District 1-5A titles, he said.

“The district this year I wide open. Cibola brings back a strong team; Cleveland is tough, but they don’t have seniors,” he said, adding that West Mesa and Gallup could play spoiler roles.

In Class 5A, Shepard said, “La Cueva the team to beat till somebody takes it from them. … I think Sandia is going to be right there. I think if anybody’s going to beat La Cueva in the season, I think it’s going to be Sandia.”

Shepard and Rams fans can get an idea of how good La Cueva is when the Bears

Dave Hesser returns as the Rams’ junior varsity coach. Former Rams Jeff and Jimmy Wenzel will help the teams when they have time, he said. Two former Rams, David Garcia and Jake Vargas will also coach the freshman team.

Headers: To keep up with RRHS soccer, visit ramsoccer.org. The site includes the bracket from this week’s Academy Invitational.