APPLETON, Wisconsin — The Ripon football program wrapped up its 2023 season in style, breezing past Midwest Conference rival Lawrence 55-34 on Saturday afternoon at the Banta Bowl for the Red Hawks' 22nd consecutive win in the series.
For the second consecutive week, Ripon (5-5, 5-4 MWC) scored north of 50 points, jumping on Lawrence (0-9, 0-8 MWC) from the very beginning. After the teams traded punts on their opening series, Ripon marched down the field in 9 plays, culminating in a 5-yard touchdown scamper by quarterback Jack Berens to open up a 7-0 Red Hawks lead.
Lawrence responded on the next drive, however. A 10-play, 52-yard drive ended in a 1-yard TD run by Zekhi Mills, but the extra point try failed to keep Ripon ahead. The Red Hawks extended their lead just two and a half minutes later, as Berens found Alex Mosqueda for a 17-yard touchdown strike to give Ripon a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After the Vikings turned the ball over on downs at the Ripon 40, the offense continued to hum. Connor Ramage plunged in from one yard out to further Ripon's lead to 21-6.
For the fourth consecutive drive, Ripon found the end zone. After a Lawrence punt, the Red Hawks drove 66 yards in just 6 plays to score on a 9-yard touchdown toss from Berens to DeMarcus Conner, giving the Red Hawks a 28-6 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the first half.
After Lawrence got the ball back, Ripon muffed the ensuing Viking punt and Lawrence got the ball back near the Ripon red zone with 3:40 remaining in the first half. Aidan Williams found Alex Lippert for a 16-yard touchdown near the end of the first half as the Vikings cut the deficit to 28-12.
The Ripon offense was not willing to let the last drive of the first half go to waste, as a 5-play, 63-yard drive ended on a 3-yard Berens touchdown run with under a minute remaining. The Red Hawks led 35-12 at intermission.
On the first drive of the second half, Lawrence drove down the field in three minutes to cut into the deficit once again. Williams found Brody Roberts for a 29-yard touchdown pass, the Vikings converted the two-point conversion and Ripon's lead was 35-20.
On a third quarter, 4th-and-16 from the Ripon 26, Fletcher Dallas picked off Williams, stalling Lawrence once again in Ripon territory. After starting the fourth quarter, the 12-play, 80-yard drive ended in another Ramage touchdown – this time from 4 yards out – as Ripon extended its lead to 42-20.
On the ensuing drive, Dallas picked off Williams again – for the second time deep into Ripon territory – and Ramage once again punched it in. The 2-yard touchdown run, combined with the blocked extra point, gave Ripon a 48-20 lead with 8:51 remaining in the game.
With backups in for Ripon on defense, Lawrence marched down the field in just under five minutes. The Vikings ended the drive with a 14-yard touchdown strike from Williams to Jackson Barbour as the Vikings trimmed the deficit to 21.
In Ripon's penultimate drive of the season, Treston Dekker scored his first collegiate touchdown, running in from 7 yards out. McKynzee Schepp connected on her first career extra point as Ripon went up 55-27 on its final touchdown of the season.
Lawrence ended the afternoon with another Williams touchdown pass, this time to Logan Olson from 27-yards out, as Ripon recovered the ensuing onside kick and salted away the final minutes of the 2023 campaign.
Berens had another productive outing as the signal caller, going 16 of 24 for 211 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Rushing, he added 68 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 carries. Also on the ground, Ramage carried the ball 27 times for 169 yards and 3 scores as Ripon did not lose a single yard in the ground game all afternoon.
In a balanced passing attack, Mosqueda caught 4 passes for 84 yards and a score to lead the Ripon receiving corps.
Defensively, Zane Vetter reached double-digit tackles for the first time in his career, racking up 12 total tackles with a half sack. Dallas had the aforementioned pair of interceptions, while Gavin Engh had 8 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks.
As a team, Ripon rolled up 520 yards of total offense, limiting Lawrence to just 339. The -10 rushing yards allowed by the Red Hawks defense is the fourth-fewest single-game rushing yards allowed in school history. Ripon converted 9 of 11 third downs, holding Lawrence to just a 4 of 11 success rate. The defense also had seven total sacks, while the offense didn't allow any.
Williams led Lawrence offensively, throwing for 349 yards (33 of 44), 4 touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.
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Red Hawks Roll Lawrence to Close Out 2023
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20231111_616y.xml
2023
Ripon
55
Lawrence
34
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ripon (5-5) | 14 | 21 | 0 | 20 | 55 |
| Lawrence (0-10) | 6 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 34 |
Nov 11, 2023