|
RIPON, Wis. - The Red Hawks needed just one quarter to put away Knox College in Saturday's Midwest Conference match up. Ripon scored 22 points in the opening period, en route to a 28-10 win over the Prairie Fire. The game wasn't pretty at times, as the six combined turnovers would indicate, but in the end, the Red Hawks did what they needed to do to get the job done.
Ripon (2-1, 2-0) got on the board on their second drive of the game when Tygh Walters found a wide open Ted Bartels for a 57 yard score. That marks the sixth consecutive game that Bartels has caught a touchdown pass, the last three of which have all been at least 57-yard strikes.
"Teams are really loading up on us to try to stop the run and when they try to do that, that opens up the passing opportunities and we're certainly going to take advantage of any opportunity they give us at any time," said head football coach Ron Ernst.
The Red Hawks wasted no time, scoring on their next possession of the game when John McGuire rumbled for a 19 yard score, his first touchdown of the season. The snap on the extra point was mishandled, but holder Chris Pettit made something out of nothing, finding Brian Felix in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion. Ripon continued their early dominance when they got the ball back again, scoring on their third consecutive possession, as Scott Perkins ran it in from 10 yards out for a 22-0 lead.
"The kids executed well and we were able to do some things defensively to force them into some rough spots. We did some good things, and we've just got to keep building on it," said Ernst.
One of those rough spots was caused by a first quarter interception by Ripon linebacker Ryan Andersen, which set up the Perkins touchdown. The Red Hawks forced three turnovers in the game, as Vince Spratte added two picks in the second half. Linebacker Mike Krause was also all over the field, recording 14 tackles, including 10 in the first half.
"Our defense played very well today. We only gave up three points in the second half and we forced them into several three-and-outs," Ernst said. "Our defense put themselves in good situations and they were around the ball for most of the game."
Knox (1-2, 0-2) cut Ripon's halftime lead to 15 points late in the first half when Grant Guimond took a pass and scrambled 25 yards into the end zone for the Prairie Fire's lone touchdown. Knox cut into the lead even more in the second half, kicking a 28-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. Ripon never panicked though, as Perkins scored his second touchdown of the game, this time through the air on a 22 yard TD reception from Tygh Walters to cap the scoring.
"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a few times late in the game with some missed exchanges on hand offs and some missed blocking schemes, but we came out with a win, so that's huge, especially against a conference team. We're 2-0 in the Midwest Conference no matter how you look at it."
|
Back 