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Ripon trounces Bret Harte with balanced offense
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Ripon racked up nearly 450 yards of total offense and rolled to a 45-0 victory over Bret Harte in Angels Camp Friday, but the coaches didn’t leave entirely satisfied.

“We have a lot to work on,” Ripon head coach Chris Johnson said. “As coaches we focus more on what we didn’t do well. Anytime you walk away from a 45-0 win upset about how you played it’s a good problem to have.

“All in all, the kids played hard and responded well. We made some mistakes, but we have a lot of experience on our team. The senior leaders really stepped up tonight.”

Among those seniors was running back Josh McCreath, who worked hard to get back into game shape after missing the team’s summer workouts while recovering from a knee injury. He racked up 95 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries.

Third-year standouts Anthony Baciocco and Cole Herrin also did damage. Baciocco rushed eight times for 85 yards and two scores, and Herrin caught nine passes for 100 yards and a TD.

Herrin’s 23-yard touchdown reception helped set the tone. That was the first play from scrimmage for Ripon, which followed a turnover from Bret Harte on its opening play from scrimmage.

Kyle Wengel completed 12 of 16 passes for 171 yards, two touchdowns and had no picks. His 1-yard toss to Bradley Clark capped a 19-point second quarter that had Ripon ahead 25-0 at halftime.

Reserve fullback Michael Morris got in on the action, adding a 22-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to cap the final score. He had six touches go for 54 yards.

All told, Ripon outgained the Bullfrogs 444-163 in offensive yardage, and the defense forced three turnovers.