Ripon Christian recorded its third straight shutout on Friday, and the offense put together another near-perfect effort as the Knights kicked off Southern Athletic League play with a 49-0 drubbing at Denair.

Trevor Van Elderen scored touchdowns on three of his six carries while contributing a quarterback sack on defense. The 3-1 Knights compiled 334 yards off offense while keeping the clamping down the Coyotes (1-2) for just 14 yards, minus 1 in the second half.

Denair has just 17 players on its roster but only 13 suited up for Friday’s game.

“We just had a game plan going in,” RC coach Phil Grams said. “We had a feeling going in that we were the better team, but we had a game plan and followed it.

“It became a running clock at the end of the first half, so we were able to get our subs in the second half which was nice because we have a couple new guys added to the roster this week because they became eligible.

“We got to play the rest of our back-ups. The goal in the preseason was to come out of it healthy, and we came out healthy from this game, too.”

Van Elderen finished with 53 rushing yards, 65 receiving on two catches and four tackles on defense.

Fullback Grant Sonke rambled for 103 yards on three carries, hitting paydirt on a physical 41-yard dash.

Flyback Brady Grondz scored the first points of the game on a 5-yard run, and Amos Cady capped the barrage as time ran out in the third quarter with a 6-yard scamper.

Sophomore quarterback Mason Tameling completed five of seven passes for 107 yards, including his perfect 24-yard strike to tight end Jace Beidleman for a touchdown two seconds into the second quarter.

Ripon Christian’s first seven drives resulted in touchdowns and point-after kicks from Ethan Schenk. The Knights’ final drive of the game ended with three kneel-downs inside Denair’s 10-yard line.

The only blemish for the offense was a fumbled snap in that last series, but Preston Zuidervaart scooped it up and turned it into a 13-yard gain.

Defensively, Ripon Christian allowed only two first downs and zero pass completions while its dominant front — which includes 6-foot-5, 307-pound Carson Bunnell and 6-2, 268-pound Jimmy Heida up the middle — stifled Denair’s run-based offense.

Zuidervaart led the way with eight tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. Logan DeJong added two tackles for losses, Amos Cady collected his third interception of the season and Beidleman chipped in a sack.

The win sets up Ripon Christian’s showdown with defending champion Orestimba (3-1), which took care of previously-undefeated Le Grand on the road in its league opener, 49-36.

“It will be a challenge — we haven’t had a challenge the last few weeks,” Grams said. “We feel pretty good on both sides of the ball right now. We are looking forward to playing Orestimba at our house, I have a lot of respect for Aaron Souza, their head coach. It will be nice, because out of the last 10 games only one has been at home.”