|
RIPON, Wis. - Even David defeated Goliath one time. Saturday, Ripon will play David, to UW-Oshkosh's Goliath, knowing that it only takes one time to take down the bigger of the two schools. That hasn't been the case the past two years, with the Titans defeating the Red Hawks in both games, by a combined score of 101-6.
UW-Oshkosh leads the all-time series 16-12-6, and have won the last eight meetings between the two schools. Ripon's last win against UW-Oshkosh came in 1921, but that doesn't mean they haven't been able to hang with the Titans. Last season, Ripon led 6-3 after one quarter of play, but UW-O simply wore them out in the second half.
"This is the third straight year our kids have played them and they feel like they can play them tough. The last two seasons, we played them well in the first two quarters, but they wore us down in the second half," head coach Ron Ernst said. "Our kids are in good shape. If we can stay in the game and keep it close all the way through, then we'll have a shot to win at the end. Our goal is to just take one drive and one quarter at a time and try to put us in position to win the game in the fourth quarter."
In order to do that, Ripon will have to do what they do best, which is run the football. Last season, the Red Hawks ran for a school record 3,039 yards, which was 305.3 yards per game. Against UW-Oshkosh the past couple years, they haven't been nearly as successful, rushing for an average of 77 yards per game.
Another factor in the past two losses against the Titans has been turnovers. The Red Hawks turned the ball over seven times in those two games, leading to several UW-Oshkosh scoring drives. Without those turnovers, the final scores would have likely been closer.
"With a big, athletic team like UW-Oshkosh, we can't make a lot of mistakes, which has hurt us against them the past couple years. We just have to eliminate those, but if we don't, it'll be a very long day," Ernst said. "We can't put the ball on the ground offensively, we can't give up plays defensively, and we have to be very solid in our special teams. If we do that, I think we'll be ok."
This game will be the first game of the season for each school, which means they still will have a little uncertainty with how their teams are constructed.
"Going into the first game, teams have a lot of question marks. Competing against your own team is one thing, but competing against somebody else at game speed is a whole different ball game," Ernst said. "We have to come out quickly and find out what kind of football team we are."
Ripon returns 16 of their 22 starters from a year ago, while UW-Oshkosh returns five, including just one on the offensive side of the ball. Even with such an inexperienced teams, the Titans usually find players who can get the job done, which means the Red Hawks must take them just as serious as they normally would.
"Every year, they've produced good athletes and have had very good teams that are always well coached. I suspect that they will again put a team on the field that is very good," said Ernst.
The Red Hawks will also get a chance to see new players in new roles with the team. Unlike the Titans, many of the players Ripon will be evaluating, will be playing in a reserve role.
"We have some kids who are in key backup roles that will get some playing time on Saturday, so we've got to find out what they can do, and I think it will be a great test for our entire team," said Ernst.
This season-opening non-conference game will also be a tune-up for the games that count, which will come the following week, when Ripon opens up their Midwest Conference schedule with a home game against Lake Forest. The Red Hawk coaching staff will in some ways use Saturday's game as an evaluating tool, but would also love to pull the upset, which would make noise state-wide.
"Win or lose, this game will prepare us for the conference season, which is the most important thing," Ernst said. "A private school beating a state school would be a big deal, because we're a smaller school and we're not supposed to beat them. Both teams are very good, and we're both going to be finding out where we're at as football teams, as we both prepare for our conference seasons."
|
Back 