Rams mean business

Season opener on a college campus will be a business trip for Salem in new coach Danny Mendoza’s debut

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

The Salem Rams may still have some questions about their second game of the season next week, but there’s no question what their season opener is all about.

Under first-year coach Danny Mendoza, the Rams open the season Friday night in a college stadium some two hours away against a team whose coach runs his program by the major-college principles he learned as a P5 player.

With all that as a backdrop, suffice to say the game against Executive Education Academy of Allentown, Pa., in Lafayette College’s Fisher Stadium is no sight-seeing trip.

“For them it’s a great thing because they’re going to understand what a business trip is,” Mendoza said. “Locked in on the way up. When we get there, the atmosphere of the stadium and the locker room. Coming out of the tunnel. Getting that experience now.

“These guys have been at Rutgers, they’ve been at the big stadium, so I think getting that experience early as opposed to later will help us handle certain atmospheres throughout the year.”

The Rams are going to be a lot of places this season as their stadium moves closer to completion, racking up nearly 700 round-trip miles before the regular season ends. It took them weeks to find this Week Zero game and now they’re in a similar search mode to find a venue for next week’s game against Camden after logistics issues within the event forced led to the teams pulling out of the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic in Wilmington. 

The players are looking forward to the adventure.

“It’s a great opportunity to show everybody what we can do,” senior lineman Darius Brooks said. “With a new coach everybody’s doubting us pretty much and it gives us an opportunity to let everybody know we’re still here.”

“It’s time to set a statement for everybody,” added quarterback Ramaji Bundy. “Let them know what we’re going to do, how we’re coming this year.”

And it might be a little different than people remember. Mendoza was approved as the Rams’ head coach in mid-June, charged with keeping the train moving after two straight sectional titles. He’s trying to infuse the flash of his Florida football background with Jersey grit already in place while installing new schemes on offense and defense. It’s catching on.

“It was a little different for me at first, but now we’re just rocking and rolling,” massive lineman Detric Simmons said.

In their only outside scrimmage of camp, the Rams demonstrated an ability to move the ball with decorated receiver Bundy moving to quarterback and an aggression and cover package on defense that isn’t inclined to give up much.

It should be a good test for the secondary. The Raptors, a third-year program coming off its first district title, are a spread team that averaged 354 yards a game last year, 256 through the air. Kris Cruz moves into their starting quarterback slot after backing up a 2,900-yard passer last year. Their top returning receiver, 6-4 Damon Young, had 684 yards receiving and seven touchdowns last season.

Mendoza said his secondary – Omarion Pearce, Terrance Smith, Kaden Robinson and Raymere Jones – has played “very well” in camp as they adjust to the new concepts.

“We’re ready to get up there, test the waters up there in a different state and get our guys in that atmosphere,,” Mendoza said. “It’s going to be a fun deal for them.”

Fun, but all business.