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DePERE, Wis. - Ripon and St. Norbert each entered Saturday's game with visions of a Midwest Conference championship in their heads. The Green Knight's vision got even clearer after they defeated the Red Hawks 52-27 to clinch at least a share of the MWC crown and a spot in the NCAA Division-III playoffs.
St. Norbert (8-0, 7-0) didn't waste any time getting on the board, taking the opening drive of the game 59 yards in six plays, culminating in a 34 yard touchdown pass from Cody Craig to Judd O'Connell. After an interception on Ripon's first drive of the game, the Green Knights found the end zone again, this time on an 8 yard TD reception by O'Connell.
Ripon (5-3, 5-2) would fight back however, as they always seem to do when faced with adversity. The Red Hawks took the ensuing drive right down the field to cut St. Norbert's lead in half, highlighted by a 44 yard run by Scott Perkins, who finished the drive with a two-yard plunge to get Ripon on the board. St. Norbert had an answer for that, as they seemed to do all day, whenever the Red Hawks would gather some momentum. The Green Knights scored on the very next drive, as O'Connell recorded the hat trick with his third touchdown catch of the first quarter.
The Red Hawk defense didn't fare much better in the second quarter. After holding St. Norbert on their first drive of the period, the Green Knights took their second drive of the quarter in for a score. Their longest drive of the game, 10 plays, was finished off by Gerald Danforth, who scored from 11 yards out. After a Ripon punt, the Green Knights scored their fifth touchdown just before halftime, as Joe Kandravi scored from one yard out with 1:14 to play in the second quarter for a 35-7 halftime lead.
Ripon's offense tried to open things up at the start of the second half, but to no avail, throwing an interception on the first play of the third quarter. That gave St. Norbert a short field to work with and O'Connell took full advantage, scoring his fourth TD of the game on a 21 yard pass play from Craig.
The two teams played pretty evenly from that point in the game. The Red Hawks put their second touchdown on the board midway through the third quarter on a 2 yard run by Jon Larsen, who then converted the two-point try on a pass from Chris Pettit. After a 23-yard field goal by St. Norbert made the score 45-15, Ripon's Matt Birschbach ran untouched for a seven-yard score, cutting the Green Knight lead to 24 points with seven and a half minutes remaining in the contest. It was too little, too late however for the Red Hawks, as time ran out on them and their quest for an outright MWC championship.
Ripon's conference leading rushing attack piled up 370 yards in the game, including 168 by Larsen. Perkins added 64 yards on the ground, while John McGuire finished with 56 yards. A big bright spot for Ripon was the continued excellence on special teams by Joshua Kraemer, who returned six kicks for 133 yards (22.2 per return), including a long of 33 yards, while also returning one punt for 18 yards. In the end, Ripon's four turnovers were just too much to overcome, despite gaining just three less first downs than the Green Knights.
St. Norbert's offensive attack was spurred by their passing game, which threw for 350 yards in the contest, including 309 coming from the arm of Craig. His favorite target, O'Connell finished with eight catches for 157 yards, including his four scores. Nick Albert also had a nice day receiving with five receptions for 101 yards. The St. Norbert offense out gained Ripon 517 to 379.
The Red Hawks will try to rebound next week, as they'll be back in action against Grinnell College on Saturday. That game will begin at 1:00 p.m. in Grinnell, Iowa and can be seen via webcast at www.midwestconference.tv.
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