Ripon rolls up yardage in big win

RIPON — As one of the area's surprise undefeated teams, Ripon High prepared for Friday's night showdown with another undefeated team — Argonaut — in a very special way.

The first thing the Indians learned to do was gain a high level of respect for the Mustangs and their oh-so difficult to stop double-wing offense. Once that was achieved, it was time to play.

Ripon (4-0) not only stopped Argonaut, it dominated the Mustangs, building a 33-6 fourth-quarter lead before posting a 33-19 homecoming victory.

"We did hours and hours of work," said senior linebacker T.J. Flores. "We thought of them as juggernauts, not Argonaut."

Ripon approached perfection in building a 26-0 halftime lead.

Through the opening 24 minutes, the Indians outgained Argonaut 264 yards to 41, with quarterback Kyle Wengel throwing for 165.

Josh McCreath had two scoring runs, Anthony Baciocco added a third, and Wengel hit Jake McCreath on an 11-yard jump ball of a scoring pass on the half's final play to leave the crowd on both sides stunned.

Ripon finished with 409 yards of offense, as Wengel finished with 220 passing yards to add to the Indians 189 yards rushing on 46 attempts. Yes, the Indians so far this season have shown excellent offensive balance.

"We have some kids," said Ripon coach Chris Johnson. "Our quarterback is coming along and we have receivers who can go get the ball, which allows the run game to go. For years we've been able to grind it out a little bit, but when teams would put 11 in the box against us we haven't had the ability to throw."

The Indians defense held the Mustangs (2-1) to 68 ground yards through three quarters, and Argonaut did not pick up its initial rushing first down until the fourth quarter. The Mustangs scored with 8:47 left in the game at the end of a 45-yard drive, then Colton Merriman returned a punt 64 yards for s touchdown with 5:13 remaining.

The sudden scores forced Johnson to put his starting offense back in, and two first downs later the Indians celebrated on the field with a kneel-down.

"I never thought we had them stopped until the game was over," Flores said. "We made a lot of adjustments throughout the game — constant changeups. This team kept us on our toes, but we kept them on their heels, and that's all that mattered."