HUGHSON – For the second week in a row the Ripon Indians played a game that came down to the wire.
But this time the ball fell the way of the Hughson Huskies who downed the Trans Valley League co-champions 19-16 to send Ripon off into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Division V playoff with their only league loss of the season.
“It was another one of those games came down to the very end and it really could have gone either way,” Ripon head coach Chris Johnson said. “This league has more parity than we’ve had in years – I talked to coaches and they didn’t think that anybody would go undefeated in this league this year.
“We’ve done well as a team and we finished this gauntlet with only one loss and we’ll come out as co-champions with Hilmar and as the No.1 seed out of this league. We have to keep looking forward.”
It was a goal-line stand for Hughson from the 1-yard line that made the difference in the contest. By holding Ripon (6-4, 4-1 TVL) out of the end zone when the game was 19-10, the Huskies were able to shoulder a late Indians touchdown in the fourth quarter and pick up a few offensive first downs to run out the clock on the contest.
Both Nick Price and Matthew Dedonatis scored touchdowns for Ripon. Juan Martinez contributed a field goal.