Ripon Christian moved to 0-2 in a gauntlet of a Trans Valley League schedule Friday night, falling 28-7 to Sonora in a game that was in the balance until the visiting Wildcats pulled away late.

“Our kids battled their tails off all night and held a really good offense in check for most of the game,” Ripon Christian head coach Phil Grams said. “Ultimately, we made too many mistakes, and when you play a team as good as that one you just can’t do that and expect to win a football game.”

Ripon Christian (0-2, 4-2) dressed 20 players against the back-to-back state titlist Sonora (2-0, 4-2). The Knights have key injuries on both sides of the ball, including standout Elijah Lambdin and Stadtler Postma. Postma gutted through an injured ankle, playing sparingly against the Wildcats.

“Credit to Stadtler, he’s a tough kid,” Grams said. “When we realized we were still in the game, we asked him to go and he made plays just like he always has for us.”

It was the defense that kept Ripon Christian in the game , holding the explosive Wildcats’ offense to just over 100 yards in the first half. A 37-yard counter play that put Sonora at the Ripon Christian five-yard line was the lone bright spot for the visitors in the first half. Two plays later, quarterback Jeremy Snyder (17 carries, 66 yards) would keep the ball on an option play and plunge in from two yards out to make it 7-0 Sonora.

An interception by Talen Tameling, a bone-crushing sack by Samuel Bruno and a fumble recovery by Tyler Van Elderen stalled Wildcat drives for the rest of the first half, as the Ripon Christian offense struggled to get going itself.

“That’s a good defense over there, but we shot ourselves in the foot over and over tonight,” Grams said. “I guarantee when we go back to look at film, we will find little things we could have done better. This offense is about execution, and this is the second week in a row we haven’t executed as well as our opponents.”

The Ripon Christian defense came out of the locker room in the third quarter and forced a three-and-out from Snyder and the Wildcats. The ensuing snap sailed over punter Chase Castle’s head setting the Knights up with their best field position of the game at the Sonora 21-yard line. Three plays later Ripon Christian quarterback Josiah Van Vliet found Postma in the back of the end zone from 19 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

Sonora would answer however, putting together a classic 16-play, 80-yard drive that took off just under nine minutes of game time capped by Snyder’s second of three rushing touchdowns on the evening to put the Wildcats up 14-7.

A false start penalty put the Knights in a third and twelve situation on the next drive and Van Vliet was unable to find Postma as cornerback George Renault made a great play on the ball to stop a long gain that would have put the Knights deep in Sonora territory. Sonora would again chew clock on the next possession this time going 56 yards in nine plays that would take over six minutes off the clock before Clavey Duncan scored from 18 yards out to put the game out of reach, 21-7 with just over two minutes to go.

Up next for Ripon Christian is a trip to Orestimba, followed by a bye week where Grams will look to get his team healthy.

“We have another tough one next week then we’ll get a much-needed week off,” Grams said. “Hopefully, we can get Stadtler off of his feet and back out there down the stretch for league play against some really good teams.”