Ripon Christian had 365 days to think about a tough opening game loss to eventual Division 6-A CIF state champions in Summerville last season in which a few mistakes cost the Knights.

If Friday night’s game is any indication of things to come, they proved they belong with some of the best small school programs in the area with a complete 35-21 victory over the Bears at Memorial Stadium.

“Tonight was about redemption for this team and this program,” Knights head coach Phil Grams said. “We made some mistakes up there last year against a really good team, and I challenged these guys all summer to come out here play a complete game, and I think we did that.”

Grams has 15 seniors on what might be his deepest team he’s had at Ripon Christian.

“We have a three-year starter at QB in Mason (Tameling), a three-year fly receiver in Amos (Cady) and a ton of depth up front,” Grams said. “We were able to adjust to what they were doing in the first half, and I was extremely proud of how we played on both sides of the ball.”

Tameling shined behind center for the Knights, completing 15 of 20 passes for 190 yards and two passing touchdowns on the evening to go with his one on the ground. The senior signal caller was able to connect with six different receivers in the game.

“I was just running around out there trying to make plays,” Tameling said. “We like to run the ball, but tonight we found some success through the air and stuck to it. Our guys do a great job of getting open and made some really good plays on the ball.”

The highlight of the night offensively came in the third quarter when Tameling found Cady on a 24-yard deep ball. Cady made the catch and got a foot down in bound to put the Knights up 21-14.

The Bears showed the resolve of a defending state champion on the very next play when Orlando Lopez took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown to tie the game at 21-21 with 9:04 left in the third quarter. It would be the last points Summerville would score in the game.

Ripon Christian, which earned great field position on special teams all night long, found its groove in the running game with Lushen Sanders behind an offensive line lead by Matthew Chapman, Sergio Rubio and Miles Pollard. Chunk runs got the Knights inside the 10 before Tameling found Daniel Lambdin for a touchdown from seven yards out to put the Knights up for good.

Defensively, the Knights allowed just 27 yards of total offense from Summerville in the second half. Key tackles for a loss by Chase Bunnell and Samuel Bruno put the Bears in long down and distances, forcing two key interceptions from junior defensive back Mason Clark.

“We put in a ton of hours of work this offseason,” Clark said. “Our goal this week was to put a body on a body. We started out a little rocky defensively in the first half, but we were able to get it together and make some plays to help our team get a huge win.”

Grams’ Knights will look to build upon their opener next week when they host former Southern League foe Le Grand.

“I have 15 seniors in that locker room that are going to make sure we come to play next week,” Grams said.