Sam Aguirre is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mesquite High School for AZPreps365.com

The Maricopa Rams scored 42 unanswered points to win their homecoming game, 42-14, against the Mesquite Wildcats Friday night in Maricopa.

Rams junior quarterback and kicker Jose Cardona Jr. led the way, throwing for 226 yards and three touchdowns. He also made all four of his field goal attempts.

"Jose's awesome,” senior wide receiver Max Gambino said. “He threw touchdowns to me my sophomore year, junior year. We've known each other a long time. He picks everybody up in practice so he's just a great guy to be around. Jose Cardona is my quarterback all the time.”

The Wildcats opened up the scoring at the start of the second quarter with a 51-yard rushing touchdown off a fake punt by junior running back Parker Kaczmarek. On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore Sage Santiago recovered a fumble which immediately led to a 36-yard passing touchdown from junior quarterback David Ramirez to junior wide receiver Andrew Joiner. That gave Mesquite a 14-0 lead with 8:00 left in the second quarter.

The Rams quickly responded with a 20-yard passing touchdown from Cardona Jr. to senior wide receiver Terrence Coleman. Cardona Jr. then found Gambino for a 14-yard touchdown with 58 seconds left in the first half, giving Maricopa a 19-14 halftime lead.

Maricopa coach Tevin Rutherford was proud of the way his team handled the early deficit.

“OK, they're up 14-0. Doesn't matter,” Rutherford said. “We're going to go handle business and you definitely saw that we did.”

Wildcats coach Vance Miller said they need to work harder in the coaches office.

“It was an exciting first half. We kept our cool, everything was going right for us at that point,” Miller said. “I told the kids when we were finished, this one's on the coaches.”

“Our game plan was clicking and when our game plan started to shut down, I don't think that we were prepared enough for a plan B.”

The Rams defense forced a safety along with a third-quarter interception from sophomore cornerback Alexander Nelson.

Maricopa junior linebacker Clayton Neal credited the defense for their performance.

“Our defense is stacked,” Neal said. “We do our jobs. We’re in the weight room.” “On the sidelines we're hyped. The stands were hyped, and even the coaches.”

Gambino said it’s all about crowd engagement in these special games.

"There's always three games you want to win, your first game, homecoming game and senior night,” Gambino said. “So far, we didn't get our first one but we got homecoming.”

Mesquite (1-4) will play their first regional game at Combs (4-1) next Friday at 7 p.m.

Maricopa (3-2) will travel to Nogales (0-4) on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.