That lopsided zero-week loss to state finalist Central Valley Christian is in the rear-view mirror.

Ripon Christian has strung together two commanding wins ahead of its bye week and Southern Athletic League opener. On Friday, the Knights dominated visiting Calaveras defensively in the first half, and the modified fly offense took over in the second half on the way to a 27-6 victory.

“We’ve gotten better every single week,” Ripon Christian coach Phil Grams said. His Knights were routed by Visalia-based CVC, one of the top teams out of the Central Section, 42-14.

“We played a very tough opponent in Week 1 and licked our wounds from that. They were just so much physically better than us, but we came back the next week and improved a little bit, beat a physical Cloverdale team (48-7), learned from that and fixed some things on offense and defense.”

Senior quarterback Trey Fasani led the Knight’s balanced attack, completing 16 of 24 passes to seven different receivers for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Griffin de Abreu caught five of those passes for 63 yards and two scores.

“I really trust anyone on the field to run the route and catch the ball,” Fasani said. “Anyone can do a great job. I just throw it to whoever is open.”

Grant Sonke (seven rushes, 71 yards) and Derek Van Elderen (11 rushes, 70 yards, TD; four catches, 31 yards) spearheaded the Knights’ ground game, which totaled 181 yards. Although Ripon Christian (2-1) struggled to finish drives in the second quarter, it was able to advance against the Red Hawks’ stiff defense by making use of all of its weapons. Brady Grondz contributed 23 rushing yards, 16 receiving and a touchdown run.

“Coach (Randy) Fasani is calling the offense this year and he’s doing a great job,” Grams said. “I’m asking him to use my terminology and everything, but he’s one of the smartest play callers I’ve been around.”

Two big plays in the first quarter catapulted Ripon Christian to an early 12-0 lead. Sonke’s 40-yard dash set up Van Elderen’s 4-yard scoring scamper, and on the Knights’ next offensive play from scrimmage Fasani hit the 6-foot-5 de Abreu for a 38-yard touchdown pass.

Penalties in the second quarter slowed their roll, and their final three drives of the half stalled inside Calaveras’ 40.

“That’s just a young team still making some mistakes, but what bailed us out of that in the end was the senior leadership out of our quarterback,” Grams said while also giving a nod to tight end Thys Van Der Hoek, who played through a sore ankle.”

“Our offense allows us to get No. 11 (de Abreu) in one-on-one matchups. We just couldn’t quite put it together at the end of the first half, but we knew that we had some mismatches that we’d be able to take advantage of in the second half.”

Ripon Christian put together two impressive scoring drives in the second half. The first series lasted 14 plays in 7 minutes, 28 seconds and spanned 88 yards, culminating in Grondz’s 8-yard TD 4 seconds into the fourth quarter. The Knights put it away with their 11-play, 69-yard series that ate up another 6:17 off the clock. Fasani zipped a 3-yard pass to de Abreu for the last touchdown.

Defensively, Jacob Kowes and Preston Zuidervaart each had a sack. Junior defensive lineman Cote Windowrski, sophomore cornerback Josh Miller and Sonke were in on multiple tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

“Our young guys are starting to get it together. They’re growing up a little bit,” Grams said. “I told all of our sophomores and juniors they have to start playing like varsity players. They needed to get over being young and just play football, and they did that tonight.”

Calaveras (0-3) was held to just 9 yards and no first downs in the first half but got untracked in the second half, finishing with 106 yards. The Red Hawks had a streak of nine straight scoreless quarters until Braeden Orlandi broke through for an 8-yard touchdown on their first series of the second half. Orlandi earlier ignited Calaveras with a 29-yard pass to Caden Spurr on a fake punt. That was Calaveras’ first first down of the game. The Red Hawks moved the chains again on Adrian Urbina’s 13-yard run and Orlandi’s 25-yard run before the touchdown.

Orlandi was moved to running back for the game after playing behind center in losses to McNair and Carson. Josh Manzo took the reins at quarterback, and Calaveras was out of sync to start. Four fumbles and two false-start penalties stunted the Red Hawks attack, and a personal foul negated their biggest play — a 17-yard scamper by Orlandi to midfield — of the first half.

“They’re well coached every single year,” Grams said of Calaveras. “Doug (Clark) does a great job, they have a great tradition there, and their kids are tough and physical no matter what. They played two really good teams, too.”

Ripon Christian opens SAL play Sept. 16 at home against Denair.