APPLETON, Wis. - Saturday's season finale was fitting in the way it began. The Red Hawks defense, which has been huge all season long, gave themselves the first and only lead of the game on a safety, just six minutes into the contest. Ripon used that momentum to finish out the season with a 31-14 victory over arch-rival Lawrence University.

The Red Hawks (7-3, 7-2) would add to their lead later in the first quarter on a Ted Bartels 28-yard reception from senior quarterback Bob Faulds. The touchdown marked the final TD pass by Faulds in his Ripon career, giving him 36 as a Red Hawk, which makes him sixth on the school's all-time list. Jon Larsen would then catch the two-point conversion, giving Ripon a 10-0 lead. The Red Hawks would go up by 17 before Lawrence (5-5, 4-5) could even get on the board, as Matt Birschbach scored on a one-yard plunge in the beginning of the second quarter. The Vikings finally put up some points with seven seconds left in the half on a 5-yard Jared Lark reception from freshman QB Nick Maxam.

The third quarter was evenly played and neither team scored again until the first play of the fourth quarter when Tygh Walters came in at quarterback, and promptly ran for a 5-yard score. The two teams would trade touchdowns the rest of the way and Ripon goes home with the win, in the 105th meeting between these two schools.

Ripon did what they do best, rushing for 222 yards on 66 carries, while allowing Lawrence to muster just 52 yards on the ground. The Red Hawks didn't give the Vikings many opportunities however, as Ripon had the ball for 40:16 of the game. That left Lawrence with just 19:44 with the ball in which they were able to get off 37 plays all day, as opposed to the 76 plays the Red Hawks ran.