Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
GALESBURG, Illinois — The Ripon football program turned in its best defensive effort of the season to help the Red Hawks defeat Knox 10-3 on Saturday afternoon at the Knosher Bowl.
Possessions were at a premium thanks to the triple-option offense of Knox (1-4, 1-3 MWC), as Ripon (2-3, 2-2 MWC) only had four possessions in the first half but made them count – scoring on two of them. After the Prairie Fire missed a field goal attempt on the first drive of the game and punted on their second possession, Ripon needed just 2:28 to go 60 yards in 6 plays, capping off the drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Jack Berens to Connor Ramage.
Though the Red Hawks would punt on their next drive, Ripon's defense held Knox to three punts and a missed field goal on their four first-half possessions. Ripon got the ball back with 4:06 remaining in the first half and, after a long sack on third down deep in Knox territory, took the points as Erik Flores connected on a 40-yard field goal with 5 seconds on the clock to send Ripon to the locker room with a 10-0 lead.
To further illustrate Ripon's dominant defensive effort in the first half, Knox averaged 2.3 yards per play in the first half, running 29 yards with only 68 yards to show for it.
After the first three drives of the second half ended in punts, Knox broke through for its only scoring drive of the day – and the only score of the second half for either team. A 12-play, 77-yard drive that took up 4 minutes of game clock ended in a successful 20-yard field goal attempt.
With 8:38 remaining in the fourth quarter, Knox took advantage of a kick-catch interference penalty by Ripon to start its drive at the 41-yard line. On a fourth-and-four from the Ripon 12, the defense buckled down as Zane Vetter stopped Hunter Anderson to give the Red Hawks the ball back. From there, Berens would convert a pair of critical fourth downs to Alex Mosqueda and salt the game away.
Berens was 13 of 20 for 155 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He was also the leading rusher, tallying 104 yards on 15 carries. Mosqueda started his October right where he left off in September, hauling in 6 catches for 129 yards – his third 100-yard receiving game of the season.
Defensively, Brice Coffey had a team-high 6 tackles for the Red Hawk.
The Red Hawks' defense held Knox quarterback Kaile Williams to just 2 completions, as Williams went 2-16 for 48 yards.
Ripon had 16 first downs to Knox's 10. The Red Hawks also held statistical advantages in passing yards (164-48), rushing yards (169-145), total yards (333-193), yards per play (5.4 to 3.4) and third-down conversions (7/15 to 4/16).
The 193 yards allowed by the Ripon defense was a season-low and was the first time in 2023 that the Red Hawks held an opponent under 200 yards of total offense.
NEXT UP: Ripon visits the University of Chicago next Saturday (October 14) at 2 p.m.
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