RIPON, Wisconsin — The Ripon football program ran into a determined Monmouth squad with lots to play for in the final three weeks of the season as the Scots defeated the Red Hawks 45-3 on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Hopp Stadium.
After Ripon (3-5, 3-4 MWC) defeated Lake Forest last week, Monmouth (6-2, 6-1) found itself back in the driver's seat for a Midwest Conference championship on Saturday with a matchup against Lake Forest looming next week.
After Ripon fumbled on the second play of the game, the Scots drove 31 yards in 6 plays, capping off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run by McKade Brooks to grab a 7-0 lead. However, Ripon found the scoreboard on the next drive. After a 53-yard kick return by Jake Davies set the Red Hawks up with field position inside the Monmouth 40, Erik Flores connected on a 20-yard field goal try to bring Ripon within 7-3.
After Ripon punted on its next drive, Monmouth found the end zone once again, taking over five minutes off the clock and scoring on a Carter Boyer one-yard touchdown run. From there, the second quarter continued to be a flurry of activity. After the Scots muffed a punt following Ripon's next possession, the Monmouth offense got the ball back on the very next play via interception. Following the takeaway, Monmouth used a 9-play, 69-yard drive and turned it into a 2-yard touchdown scamper by Nate Wrublik, giving the Scots a 21-3 lead with 4:01 remaining in the first half.
Monmouth made the most of its final drive in the first half, scoring with 18 seconds remaining on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Boyer to Nate Thornton as the Scots took a 28-3 lead into halftime.
The second half was controlled by Monmouth, evident by the 39:42 to 20:18 time of possession advantage that the Scots had on Saturday. A 10-play, 76-yard drive to open the second half ended in a Wrublik 5-yard TD run, making it a 35-3 game. Monmouth would find the end zone one more time in the third on an 8-yard touchdown catch by Thornton with 3:19 left in quarter three.
The longest drive of the day for the Scots was a 14-play, 63-yard drive at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. With 7:52 left in the game, Alec Hesson nailed a 21-yard field goal to round out the scoring.
Ripon was held to three three-and-outs on the afternoon and only had two drives longer than three minutes.
Quarterback Jack Berens was 6 of 12 passing for 28 yards and an interception. On the ground, Connor Ramage was the leading rusher, carrying the ball 6 times for 15 yards. Alex Mosqueda and Seth Bruzon each had a big-play catch, hauling in passes for 24 and 22 yards respectively.
Monmouth had 29 first downs to Ripon's 5 and had a total yardage advantage of 474-55. The Scots ran 82 plays of offense, while Ripon only had the ball for 38 plays. Monmouth made the most of its third downs, converting 11 of 14 (79%) while holding Ripon to 30% on third downs (3-10).
For the Scots, Boyer was 22 of 29 for 253 yards and a pair of scores. His favorite target was Jackson Bergren, who hauled in 8 catches for 105 yards. Thornton had 6 catches for 67 yards and two scores.
NEXT UP: Ripon heads down I-41 to take on Beloit next Saturday (November 4) at 1 p.m. from Strong Stadium.
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