Senior quarterback Tyler Baker threw for 346 yards with four touchdown passes, all to fellow senior Jeric Magnant, and Darius Morgan ran for a pair of 1-yard scores as host Rio Rancho beat its new city rival, Cleveland High, 50-19, on a cold Friday night.

Morgan’s first TD run and Magnant’s first TD catch, a 4-yarder, gave the Rams a 12-0 lead in the opening quarter.

Storm QB Travis Lonergan threw a 2-yard TD pass to Chris Petro as the Storm (5-4, 1-2) made it a 12-6 game with 7:56 to play in the second period.

Tyler Baker; eclipsed 3,000-yard passing mark in win over the Storm.

Morgan’s second short run, followed by his run for a 2-point conversion, upped the Rams’ lead to 20-6. A 51-yard kickoff return by Anthony Moreno led to that short scoring drive, 31 yards in three plays.

Zack Rogers booted a 36-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, giving the Rams (6-3, 3-0) a comfortable 23-6 lead.

The third period was scoreless, while the teams combined for 40 points in the final period.

The first three TDs of the quarter were Baker-to-Magnant connections, of 21, 8 and 20 yards; Rogers, the lone junior with any points for the Rams on Senior Night, added the point-after each time, giving the Rams a 44-6 lead and paving the way for the running clock via the mercy rule.

But the Storm came right back, scoring on a 17-yard run by Lonergan, with James Beasley’s PAT making it 44-13.

Cleveland recovered an onside kick and on the next play, Lonergan fired a 31-yard scoring strike to Reece White. The conversion failed, making the score 44-19.

Another Rams senior, Cohen Mangin, found senior Richard Buric behind the Storm secondary and that resulted in a 61-yard TD pass for the game’s final points.

The Storm were without their talented running back, Iseha Conklin in the second half. Conklin, with 20 TDs this season, missed most of the second half, although the Rams’ defense held him in check in the first half: 20 carries for 54 yards, with one catch worth minus-one yard.

Conklin, coach Kirk Potter said, had hurt something in his chest, “a bruise on his sternum or something; I’m not really sure. He just couldn’t breathe.

“The better team was in control,” Potter admitted. “We had the same ol’ problem we had in Carlsbad (a 52-0 loss). We’re just a step slow in space and we just have to find a few more answers like that. When we develop a little bit, we’ll get a little quicker and a little stronger on the offensive side so we can be more dominant.”

Baker, who wanted to eclipse the 3,000-yard passing mark this season, seemed surprised he had thrown for more than 300 yards again.

He completed his first eight passes and finished 20 of 28 with one interception to go with the four TD passes to Magnant.

“A lot of guys stepped up tonight, especially Jeric,” Baker said. “Week in and week out, he amazes me with what he does. … He’s such an athlete.”

Baker said it was nice to beat the Storm in the first meeting.

“There was a lot of tension coming into the game. We were both jawing back and forth,” he said. “We came out and showed who was the better team this year. Maybe next year will be their year, but this year was ours.”

The Rams face Cibola (6-3, 3-0) Friday at 7 p.m. at Milne Stadium. The Cougars were idle this week after whipping West Mesa 56-28 on Oct. 24, eight days after the Rams pounded the Mustangs 54-20.

The 1-5A championship also came down to the winner of the Rio Rancho-Cibola game the last four seasons, with the Rams winning in 2005-06 and again last season. In 11 meetings, going back to the 1998 season, the Rams are 6-5 against the Cougars.

Cleveland closes out the regular season Saturday at 1:30 at Milne Stadium against West Mesa (2-6, 0-2 before game at Gallup Friday night).

RAMifications: In the Rio Rancho Observer’s account of Cleveland’s victory over visiting Gallup on Oct. 23, a CHS player recovering a Bengals fumble was misidentified. T.J. Perkins, a sophomore playing in his first varsity game, was the Storm player recovering the ball for a TD. The Observer regrets the error.

… The Rams were ranked 13th in KRQE-TV’s all-classes poll last week, while the coaches association poll had the Rams ranked ninth in Class 5A. Mayfield remained No. 1 in both polls.

… Last year’s Gatorade Player of the Year in the state, former Rio Rancho High School running back Troy Harris, has rushed for 277 yards for a 5.5 yards-per-carry average with six touchdowns, while playing in six games to date for the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds (2-7). Harris has appeared in seven games, with five starts for ENMU. His former RRHS teammates are red-shirting this season.