The Rams made light work of the Marauders on Saturday evening, seeing them out 35-7 at home in the regular season. It was a result that reflected the gulf in form between the two sides, with the hosts looking sharp and the visitors still searching for their footing. By then you'd expect a team to have settled into their rhythm after a few weeks, but the Marauders were nowhere near it.
What stood out was how the Rams controlled the tempo from the start. They looked comfortable in possession, moving the ball with purpose and punishing the visitors whenever they slipped up. The Marauders, meanwhile, were caught in possession too often and couldn't string anything together. Things came to a head when the Rams went up by two scores before half-time.
The visitors' recent run tells its own story. They lost to the Rock 70-10, then fell to the Vulcans 40-17, and before that a narrow 24-21 defeat to the Pilgrims. That third result at least showed they could compete, but the other two outings were something else entirely. To be fair, they've not had much to build on.
The Rams, on the other hand, have been putting points on the board with regularity. They beat the Bobcats 34-26, then the Knights 45-28, the Vulcans 28-7, and the Bears 28-18 in reverse order. There's a difference between winning and putting matches to bed early, and this was the latter. The defense sat deep and soaked it up when needed, but mostly it was about not giving the visitors any room.
What this means for the standings is that the Rams have put themselves in a strong position. A win like this doesn't just add points to the tally, it shifts the psychology of the division. The Marauders will need to find something quickly, because at this rate they're going to be buried before Christmas. The wheels came off for them here, and it wasn't pretty.
