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LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The best way for a team to get a sour taste out of its mouth is usually to get back on the field the following week, which was the case for the Ripon football team on Saturday. A week after a 44-6 defeat against UW-Oshkosh, the Red Hawks notched their first win of the season, a 34-27 win over Lake Forest, in what was the conference opener for both teams.
Lake Forest (0-2, 0-1) struck first with a 22-yard field goal by Tim Gruzwalski, which was set up thanks to a Ripon fumble on their own six yard line. Lake Forest would add to their lead later in the quarter, as Will Christensen hauled in a Jeff Ziemnik pass and took it 20 yards to pay dirt. The Red Hawks (1-1, 1-0) answered back with a 20 yard TD run by Scott Perkins to cut the lead to three. That lead was then extended to 10 once again on another Ziemnik TD pass, this time a 23 yarder to Pat Jarvis, just one minute into the second quarter.
After the second Lake Forest touchdown, the Red Hawk defense buckled down and didn't allow another score until the fourth quarter. That gave Ripon plenty of time to play catch up. And catch up they did. They cut the Forester lead to three points just before halftime on a seven-play, 85-yard drive, which was capped off by a 33 yard Tygh Walters touchdown pass to Ted Bartels.
That would be just the beginning of the day for Walters. A week after an injury forced him out of the UW-Oshkosh game, Walters started the game, and gave the Red Hawks the lead for good on a 7 yard scramble for a score. He then showed off his arm yet again, tossing a 60 yard touchdown into the hands of Brian Felix. Ripon extended their lead to 34-17 on another Perkins touchdown run, all but putting the game out of reach. Lake Forest would add a touchdown and a field goal late in the game to make the score respectable, but it wasn't enough, as Ripon begins this year's conference season the same way they began last year's, with a win.
The Red Hawk's run-oriented offensive attack was surprisingly balanced on Saturday. Walters completed seven of 14 passes for 150 yards and two big TDs, while Felix caught four passes for 107 yards, including that long touchdown. Their rushing attack, which finished with 269 yards on the ground, was led by Perkins, who finished the day with 114 yards on 22 carries. The Foresters received a tremendous showing by Ziemnik, who completed 22 of 42 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 124 more yards, in the losing effort.
Ripon returns home next weekend, as they'll look to stay undefeated in Midwest Conference play when they'll get a visit from the Knox College Prairie Fire, who dropped their conference opener 41-0 to Illinois College. Saturday's game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Ingalls Field.
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