ALBUQUERQUE — Senior quarterback Cohen Mangin turned in an outstanding performance Thursday evening at Wilson Stadium, directing two touchdown drives by the Rio Rancho Rams and throwing for 156 yards along the way.

Unfortunately, it came in a mop-up role after the carnage had already been inflicted upon the Rams (3-3) by the No. 2 Monarchs (5-1), 56-21 winners.

Last year when the two teams met at Rio Rancho Stadium, the victorious Monarchs didn’t get their fourth TD in what turned out to be a 28-27 thriller until overtime.

Dave Howes says it's back to the drawing board, after the Rams' worst loss since 2002.

This time, the Monarchs needed less than nine minutes to get 28 points; their lead at halftime was 35-7.

The Rams took the opening kickoff and went three and out and punted.

Manzano took advantage of a short punt into the wind and went 36 yards in six plays for its first touchdown.

Rams starter Tyler Baker threw an interception to end the Rams’ second possession.

Manzano went 60 yards in seven plays for a TD.

The Rams again went three and out and punted into a stiff win, giving the Monarchs the ball at the Rams 40.

Quarterback Tyler Krueger ran 40 yards on first down for a TD.

The Rams again went three and out and shanked a punt, which went out of bounds at the Rams’ 28.

Backed up five yards by a penalty, the Monarchs covered 33 yards in one play for a TD.

Each time his team scored, Brian Wilkinson added the pint-after, so it was 28-0.

The Rams put together an impressive drive on their next possession, marching all the way to the Monarchs’ 8, where a fourth-down pass fell incomplete — the fourth incompletion in a row for Baker, who wasn’t having a good game at the helm.

The Rams were finally able to keep the Monarchs from scoring on a possession, and Manzano punted.

The next Rio Rancho possession ended with an interception, but Manzano again went nowhere.

Finally, the Rams found their way into the end zone.

Aided by three MHS penalties, worth 30 yards, Baker capped a six-play, 70-yard drive with a 13-yard pass to Adam Shapiro.

The Monarchs led 35-7 at halftime, scoring on their final possession of the second quarter, on Krueger’s third TD run of the game.

Manzano invoked the “mercy rule” by scoring on their first possession of the second half – and their next two possessions, as well.

Down 56-7 early in the fourth quarter, the Rams scored the final two TDs on throws of 13 yards to Jeric Magnant and 15 yards to Adam Shapiro.

The first Mangin-led drive covered 68 yards and needed just seven plays. He was 5 of 6 through the air, worth 71 yards; a three-yard sack accounted for the three-yard discrepancy.

The second scoring drive covered 85 yards in nine plays, including five completions.

First-year head coach David Howes was not happy.

“No excuses. They’re a senior-heavy team,” he said of the Monarchs. “They’re a heck of a media team. They beat us; the better team won. … They took it to us.

“It’s time to get back to the drawing board,” he said. “We’ll be fine. This is the first game all year long we haven’t been in and that’s the name of the game.

“I’m pretty upset, but the bottom line is they jumped on us early and we couldn’t recover from it,” Howes added. “There’s a lot of blame to go all the way around, but I can assure you we’re going to fix it.”

Howes said there isn’t any controversy about who the starter is.

“We’ll evaluate that this week,” Howes said. “Tyler’s still our guy. I’m not going to ditch Tyler. Tyler’s a great quarterback and a senior leader, but he’s got some work to do. He’s got to get better. If he can’t, we’ve got a good quarterback behind him.

“There’s not a controversy, by any means, but we’re going to play our best players.”

RAMifications: Gallup visits (1-6) Rio Rancho Stadium Friday in a 7 p.m. kickoff. It’s the District 1-5A opener for the Rams, 8-1 all-time against the Bengals.

… The 35-point loss to the Monarchs was Rio Rancho’s worst loss since a 37-0 loss to visiting Artesia in the 2002 season. The Rams lost by 34 points in their playoff loss to Eldorado, also at Wilson Stadium, last season.