Scoring Summary
Waterford 0 13 8 7 — 28
Ripon Christian 7 0 7 7 — 21
First quarter
R — Thys Van der Hoek 25 pass from Trey Fasani (Grank Sonke kick), 7:58
Second quarter
W — Ryan Hilton 9 run (kick blocked), 1:51
W — Aaron Adams 3 run (Erick Del Toro kick), :21.1
Third quarter
R — Micah De Jong 12 pass from Fasani (Sonke kick), 6:23
W — Oscar Peral 57 pass from Adams (Jacob Nuson pass from Caleb Hilton), 2:58
Fourth quarter
R — Griffin Deabreu 28 pass from Fasani (Sonke kick), 8:54
W — Matthew Brinkman 16 pass from Adams (Del Toro kick), 1:20
RIPON — Ripon Christian High had a tough time getting Waterford off the field during crucial stretches of Friday's Southern Athletic League showdown.
"They did a good job executing," said Knights coach Phil Grams of the visiting Wildcats, who came away with a hard-fought 28-21 victory.
RC (1-1 SAL, 4-2 overall) tied the game at 21-21 early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Trey Fasani connected with Griffin Deabreu on a 27-yard pass play.
Grant Sonke followed that up with the extra point kick.
Waterford (3-0, 6-0) then went on a 7 ½-minute drive, chewing up the clock while relying on run plays from quarterback Aaron Adams along with Caleb and Ryan Hilton.
Adams put the Wildcats ahead for good by finding Matthew Brinkman on the 16-yard score with 1:20 left in the game.
"We knew they were good," Grams said. "One of the differences in the game is that they made a couple of more plays than us."
The Knights were led by Fasani, who completed 10 of his 18 passes for 130 yards and three TDs.
The first of those scores came midway in the first quarter when he hit his 6-foot-9 junior tight end Thys Van der hoek, who turned an intermediate toss into a 25-yard touchdown.
Waterford had been held in check until late in the second quarter behind the play of Adams and Ryan Hilton.
Despite being denied during the first go around inside the RC 5 — the Knights held tough thanks to the likes of Colton Bryan (he had a team-high nine tackles), Zach Brouwer (he was credited with seven stops and two assisted tackles), Jay Hoekstra and Dustin Hoekstra — the Wildcats bounced back with a pair of touchdowns right before halftime.
Hilton powered his way into the end zone followed by Adams connecting with Oscar Peral with a 42-yard completion to the RC 3 in those closing seconds.
Adams called his own number for the score to give his team a 13-7 edge at the intermission.
RC momentarily grabbed the lead early in the third. Fasani, who found Deabreu on a 29-yard completion, connected with Micah De Jong on a 12-yard scoring strike. Sonke's kick made it a 14-13 game.
Adams delivered his biggest play shortly after. He was all but stopped, showing escapability at his own 43 while finding Peral in the end zone.
Waterford tacked on a two-point conversion on another broken play — the place-kick holder Caleb Hilton hit one of his linemen to put his team back ahead, 21-14.
RC came back for the tie only to see the Wildcats respond with the game winner.
