October 18, 2008

Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ill. - For the second time in three years, Ripon took an unblemished 5-0 conference record to Monmouth College. Unfortunately for the Red Hawks, they experienced the same result the second time around, losing to the Fighting Scots 38-35, which leaves Monmouth as the MWC's lone undefeated team. The Red Hawks held the lead midway through the final quarter, but two late touchdowns by the Fighting Scots led them to victory.

Things began about as well as Ripon could have hoped for, with the Red Hawks (5-2, 5-1 MWC) taking the first lead of the game just 12 seconds into the contest. The opening kickoff was returned 84 yards by Joshua Kraemer, his second career kick return for a touchdown, giving Ripon an early 7-0 advantage.

Monmouth (7-0, 6-0 MWC) had plenty of answers for that return, scoring three times in the opening quarter, with a field goal sandwiched in between two touchdowns. The Fighting Scots tied the game at seven on their first possession, when Alex Tanney found Matt Shepherd for an eight-yard score. After a Monmouth field goal, Clay Bricker extended the MC lead to 16-7 on a seven-yard run.

The two teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, with Ripon's Andrew Fink finding the end zone from a yard out to cut the lead to two, before Tanney passed for another score, this time to Mike Blodgett. The two-point conversion was missed and Monmouth went into halftime leading by eight points.

Ripon has relied on their defense for much of the season, and they stepped up again at the beginning of the second half. On the first possession of the third quarter, Tanney had his pass intercepted by Kraemer, which led to a seven-play, 52-yard scoring drive. That drive was capped off by a three-yard Ben Garland run, pulling Ripon to within two. After a Monmouth punt on the ensuing possession, Ripon went on a methodical 11-play, 80-yard drive, which was capped off by an eight-yard scamper by Josh Pasek, giving Ripon their first lead since early in the game.

Ripon dodged a bullet early in the fourth quarter, as they lost a fumble on their own 18-yard line. Monmouth then got down to the three-yard line, but had to settle for a 19-yard field goal to cut Ripon's lead in half. The ensuing possession saw Ripon take a 10-point lead, when another long drive was capped off by Ted Bartels' first touchdowns of the season, a 12-yard reception from Matthew Miller.

Trailing in the fourth quarter for the first time all season, Tanney calmly led the Fighting Scots down the field going 72 yards in two and a half minutes, cutting the lead to three on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Weyeneth, with just under five and a half minutes to play. After a three-and-out, Monmouth got the ball back again and marched 77-yards in under two minutes to score the go-ahead touchdown. Tanney threw his MWC-leading 29th touchdown of the season, and fourth of the game, this time to Shepherd for the winning score.

The Red Hawks gained 338 total yards in the game, with half of those coming uncharacteristically through the air, while Monmouth gained 519 yards on the day, including 348 passing yards. Ripon turned the ball over three times, once on a fumble and twice on interceptions, with Monmouth committing just one miscue on an interception.

Miller threw the ball a career-high 24 times for the Red Hawks, completing 15 of them for 168 yards. Fink led Ripon's running attack with 61 yards on seven carries. Adam Firgens and Tim Dreger were all over the field on defense, with a combined 27 tackles, while Joe Faulds filled in nicely for the injured Vince Spratte, recording 10 tackles of his own. Kraemer was in on six tackles, in addition to his one interception and 185 yards on six kick returns.

Monmouth was led by Alex Tanney, who showed why he is the MWC's top rated passer, completing 31 of his 53 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns. Blodgett was his top target, catching eight passes for 108 yards. The Fighting Scots were also successful at times running the ball, as Bricker finished with 158 yards on the ground.

Ripon will now try to regroup and focus on next week's game, when they'll play host to St. Norbert College, who share an identical 5-1 record in the MWC, with their only loss coming against Monmouth. That game will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Ingalls Field. The winner of that game will possess second place in the MWC all by themselves.