The first time the Cibola Cougars played in Rio Rancho, they handed the Rams a 21-7 defeat.

That was at then-new Rio Rancho Stadium on Oct. 8, 1999.

Ten years and a day later, the Cougars visited Cleveland High School’s new stadium and ran off the final 24 points of the game in a 31-7 victory over the Storm. The fifth-ranked Cougars (4-3, 1-0 in 1-5A) fumbled the ball away on their second possession of the game, after the Storm (4-2, 0-1) sacked quarterback Hayden Schaap. Chris Petro came up with the ball for Cleveland deep inside Cougars territory and three plays later, Iseha Conklin scored the first touchdown on the new field on a 1-yard run.

James Beasley added the point-after for a 7-0 lead.

The historic TD came with 6:39 left in the first half, but that lead didn’t last long.

The Cougars came right back to tie the game on their next possession, capped by David Vargas’s 59-yard run untouched through the Storm line and secondary. Jorge Perez’s PAT knotted the game at 7-all.

Then it was the new Storm’s turn to take the ball and score, which they did on an eight-play, 73-yard drive that featured a 25-yard pass from quarterback Travis Lonergan to Tyler Torres and a 25-yard pass from Lonergan to Conklin in the end zone, with Conklin catching the ball after it popped out of a defender’s hands.

Beasley again added the PAT and the Storm led, 14-7, with less than a minute left in the first period.

Unfortunately, that was the last time they scored.

Cibola got a 38-yard field goal by Perez for the only points in the second period and trailed, 14-10, at halftime.

Lonergan’s first pass of the second half was picked off by Ramon Garcia and four plays later, Vargas was off on a 31-yard run for a TD. Perez’s PAT gave the Cougars the lead for the first time, 17-14.

It was less than a stalwart period for the Storm, who had the ball four times and turned it over three times and punted it away the other time they had the ball.

Another Garcia pick led to a 65-yard gallop to paydirt by Vargas and the Perez PAT gave the visitors a 24-14 lead.

Schaap capped the Cougars’ win with a 9-yard run and with a Perez PAT, was the only scoring in the fourth quarter.

Vargas wound up with 252 yards on 24 carries.

“We didn’t take care of the ball,” Cleveland coach Kirk Potter lamented. “We put too much pressure on our defense and, really, the only problem our defense has is big-play related.

“As we get a little more mature, we’ll take away that big play a lot more often.

“That defense has a chance to be pretty special, I think,” Potter said. “Offensively, we’re not going to be a spectacular offensive team — but we can’t turn the ball over and put that much pressure on our defense.”

Storm warnings: On Friday, the Storm play at Carlsbad, which was 2-3 before its game with visiting Goddard Friday night. Potter is a former Cavemen head coach. “I’m more interested in my football team performing on the road, trying to get a win against a quality team and that’s what we need,” Potter said. “I’ve got a lot of good memories in Carlsbad.”

… Cleveland got one vote in the coaches association’s latest poll; all 12 coaches voting unanimously made Mayfield their choice for No. 1. The Storm received four points in KRQE-TV’s all-classes poll, in which all 11 participating media members voted Mayfield No. 1. Surprisingly, Lake Arthur, which scored 100 points in a six-man game last week, and Texico get more points than the Storm.