Mason Tameling threw for three touchdowns and scored two more himself on 1-yard keepers Friday at neighboring Ripon’s Wes Stouffer Field, as Ripon Christian rolled to its second straight win over the Indians, 35-21.

The third-year quarterback completed 17 of 21 passes for a career-high 277 yards, hitting six different receivers in the process. Tameling even showed off his running ability (seven rushes, 35 yards), especially on a 14-yard dash on third down that led to his second short-yardage TD that capped the final score with 1:08 remaining.

“It was just the plays that were drawn up, honestly,” Tameling said. “All of these guys are weapons, and different guys got touchdowns tonight. We like to spread it around, and I just threw to where it was open. That’s just the offense we run.”

His only blemish was an interception inside the Ripon 5-yard line on Ripon Christian’s first drive of the game. Indians linebacker Xabriel Reyes deflected the pass at the line of scrimmage, and Ace Dougherty came down with the pick.

Daniel Lambdin also enjoyed a career-best night, more than doubling some of his season totals with seven receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown. Amos Cady turned a short pass play on a slant into a 70-yard catch-and-run.

Aaron Van Hofwegen (four receptions, 67 yards) scored on a 15-yard catch that helped turn the tide fully in Ripon’s favor in the final minute of the first half. That pushed the Knights (2-1 Trans Valley League, 6-1 overall) ahead for good at 21-14, and they got the ball back to start the second half. Shortly after Tameling hooked up with Cady for a 7-yard gain on fourth-and-4, the quarterback doubled the lead with his first running touchdown.

“That’s the West Coast fly (offense),” Ripon Christian coach Phil Grams said. “You have to defend all our players, and if you don’t, someone’s going to have a night — and it was Danny’s night tonight. They did a pretty good job on (defending) Amos, but Aaron had a good night, too.”

Grams credited the defense, guided by coordinator Jake Beukelman, for limiting Ripon’s Wing-T attack, which was forced to punt three times and turned it over on downs at the RC 10 on its first series of the second half.

Ripon (1-2, 5-2) relied on quarterback Andrew Shaw’s scrambling ability for some of its best plays. He rushed for 107 yards on 17 carries, while completing six of 14 passes for 109 yards and a 29-yard touchdown toss to Mike Evans. Evans also scored on a 4-yard run, and Ace Dougherty added a 3-yard scoring scamper. Fullback Kael Rangel had 16 rushes for 55 yards in his first game back from a concussion.

“RC is a good football team, and they’re well coached,” Ripon coach Cole Williams said. “We didn’t quite respond to the challenge very well, at the end of the day. We’ve been getting through our success, and we haven’t quite fought through adversity yet. That kind of sums up tonight. They haven’t really been in that spot in a big game, and they haven’t quite answered.”

Although there were several tense moments throughout — which included six personal fouls, two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and a player ejection — all players from both teams met at midfield after the game to share a prayer.

“This is a big game right across the street from us,” Tameling said. “We know a lot of these guys, we’ve all grown up with them. We’re buddies, but at the same time, we want to compete, and we always want to win that rivalry game. Now, we’re ready for what’s next in the TVL.”

There is nothing yet settled in the rough-and-tumble TVL with three games left. It doesn’t get any easier for Ripon with road games against state champion Sonora and traditional rival Escalon the next two weeks.

Ripon Christian will welcome Escalon next Friday, and its Week 10 showdown at Sonora is looming.