ESCALON — The Ripon Indians competed in all three phases of the game but ultimately came up short in a tightly-contested 35-28 loss to Dylan Ball and the rival Escalon Cougars Friday night at Engel Field at Memorial Stadium.

The is the third straight defeat in the Trans Valley League for the Indians (1-4, 5-4 overall), who came into the game thinking they needed to win at least one of their final two contests to ensure a Sac Joaquin Section Division VI playoff berth. The Indians will now need to win at home next week against a really good Hilmar team to feel good about their postseason chances.

Escalon (2-3, 4-5) went a long way in boosting playoff chances of their own in a season that has not gone as expected.

It became clear early on Friday night that both teams brought a little extra to the contest. Hard hits, personal foul penalties, and an ejection of a Ripon player highlighted a first quarter that saw the hosts go up 7-0 on a touchdown pass from Logan Huebner (210 yards passing), his first of three on the night.

His counterpart on the Ripon sideline, Andrew Shaw, plunged forward from 1 yard out to tie the score at 7-7 just before the first intermission.

“I think the game started like you’d expect any game between Ripon and Escalon to start,” Ripon coach Cole Williams said. “Obviously, we need to erase those early penalties that put them in good spots, but I was happy with how the defense played early on.”

Midway through the second quarter, it looked as if the capacity crowd was in for a low-scoring slugfest.

Ball had other ideas.

After an Indians drive stalled, Ball took the Ripon punt 65 yards to the house to put the hosts up 14-7 for his first of five touchdowns on the evening. Four minutes later, Ball caught a Huebner pass up the seam and went 45 yards untouched to put the Cougars up two scores in a game that all of a sudden looked like it could get out of hand for the Indians.

Ripon, in desperate need of someone to make a play, got one from running back Matthew Gaines on the ensuing kickoff. Gaines took the kickoff from his own 14-yard line and went 86 yards for a touchdown to give the Indians momentum back on their side.

“We know getting the ball back there down two scores that someone needed to make a play,” Gaines said. “I was fortunate the ball came to me, and our return unit did a great job blocking to help us stay in the game in that moment.”

Unfortunately for Gaines and the Indians, Ball would get his third score of the game on the very next play from scrimmage, as Huebner found him on the same exact seam route this time from 65 yards out to go up 27-14 with just over a minute left in the half.

“We knew it was going to be a knockdown, drag-out fight tonight,” Ball said. “It was the last home game for these seniors. I was just happy to get opportunities to make plays to put us in a position to win.”

Led by Shaw (128 passing yards), Ripon was able to find yet another response on the next possession, as the junior rolled to the right and found junior slotback Gavin Decena, who evaded Escalon defenders for a 52 yard touchdown with just 14 seconds left before halftime to make the score 27-21 heading into the break after both teams combined for four touchdowns in less than 90 seconds of game time.

Water found its level in the second half, however, as both defenses regained their footing. Each team scored a lone touchdown in the third quarter with Ball going in from 3 yards out on the ground, and Shaw answering from 15 yards out to keep it a one score game 35-28 going into the fourth quarter.

After a Ball interception of Shaw stalled the first drive of the fourth for Ripon, the Indians defense answered with a big play of their own as Tipeti Paini jumped on a fumbled exchange giving the visitors the ball back with just over six minutes left to go down by seven.

Ripon offense drove into Escalon territory after a 19 yard run by junior fullback Kael Rangel (62 rushing yards). The Escalon defense stiffened up, however, and after an Indians timeout on fourth-and-4, Shaw rolled out and saw his pass intercepted by Luca Cerasi to seal the victory for the Cougars.

“They just made a few more plays than we did tonight,” Williams said. “In rivalry games like this, that’s sometimes all it takes.”

Ripon will get another shot to secure its spot in the postseason next Friday night at Wes Stouffer field.

“This league doesn’t get any easier — each week is a gauntlet,” Williams said. “We’re a young team. We’ll honor our seniors and come out and compete against a really good Hilmar team, and hopefully lock in postseason play for our guys.”