SCORING SUMMARY
Ripon 7 7 2114 – 49
Linden7 7 7 21 – 42
First quarter
L – Tony Cowan 11 pass from Matthew Schallberger (Sebastian Trujillo kick), 5:40
R – Cade Escalante 2 run (Jesus Ochoa kick), 4:59
Second quarter
R – Dru Orlando 25 interception return (Ochoa kick), 4:33
L – Gavin Davis 97 kickoff return (Trujillo kick), 4:15
Third quarter
R – Xzavier Clark 96 kickoff return (Ochoa kick), 11:46
R – Xaiden Reyes 44 run (Ochoa kick), 9:15
L – Cowen 1 run (Trujillo kick), 4:05
R – Clark 68 run (Ochoa kick), 3:50
Fourth quarter
L – Deandre Smith 6 pass from Schallberger (Trujillo kick), 10:30
L – Dax Weber 1 run (Trujillo kick), 8:09
R – Reyes 7 run (Ochoa kick), 6:07
L – 65 fumble return (Trujillo kick), 3:23
R – Reyes 5 run (Ochoa kick), :38
LINDEN — After physical contest plagued with mistakes, Ripon came out on top of Linden with a 49-42 non-league win.
“We struggled with what was going on in the interior line,” Indians coach Chris Musseman said. “There was some stuff going on out there that shouldn’t have been allowed.
“This was a little more physical than we have had in practice, and we only have four kids with varsity experience. They grew tonight. This was their kind of coming-out party.”
With the Lions (0-1) threatening to tie or go ahead in the closing seconds, Ripon’s Xzavier Clark snagged an interception to secure the win for the Indians (1-0). Clark scored on a 96-yard kickoff return and a 68-yard run.
“I don’t think I have ever played a game like that,” Clark said. “No matter the outcome, I was having so much fun.”
Linden scored on the opening drive and Ripon wasted little time answering back. Following Dru Orlando’s 50-yard kickoff return to the Lions 48-yard line, Clark pulled in a 42-yard pass from Ty Herrin which set up Cade Escalante’s 2-yard scoring plunge with 4:59 left in the first period to tie the score at 7-7.
With 4:33 left in the first half, Mikey Herrera pressured the Linden quarterback into an errant throw. Austin Foster tipped the ball to Orlando who returned it 25-yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 Indians lead.
“We wanted to come out and play fast from the start,” Orlando said. “We kicked their butts in the second half.”
Ripon’s Xaiden Reyes scored on a 44-yard run in the third quarter and runs of 7 and 5 yards in the fourth.
“We haven’t won an opener in a while,” Reyes said, "so, I knew tonight was going to be a big night. And we all worked our butts off.”
“It feels good to win.”
The Lions forced three special-teams turnovers but that was offset by 105 penalty yards to just 35 for the Indians.
“It was a good game,” Linden coach Alexander Mechikoff said. “It was a hard-fought game, battling. We lost in the playoffs last year to Weston Ranch on a kickoff return, so this year we have focused on special teams and it paid off. They had some big plays too, and they beat us up front.
“There is obviously some organizational things going on. We are very short-staffed. We don’t have a ton of resources out here, and that reflected on our penalty yardage. We don’t have a lot of depth. We lost due to penalties.”
