In a back-and-forth slugfest, it was Anthony Morales and his big-play receivers who put East Union over the top Friday at Dino Cunial Stadium.

The senior quarterback threw for five touchdowns and scored one rushing, as the still-unbeaten Lancers outlasted Ripon 45-38 in the physical non-league clash.

“It was a dogfight,” Morales said. “We just kept on pushing, and I just tried to lead my boys as best I could. We finished the game strong.”

Morales completed 11 of 18 passes for 288 yards and one interception. He was also East Union’s leading rusher with 99 yards on 13 carries.

“He provides that dual threat that we’re hoping teams have to respect,” East Union coach Booie Daniels said. “That’s the weapon we have in him, because at any point in time, he can take off. He has that track speed, and we saw that a little bit tonight.”

Morales is part of the school-record 4x100 relay team, and two members of that foursome — J.P. Abrew and Cesar Salinas — were both out with injuries Friday. The fastest of the bunch was available, however, and Jackson Fay burned the Indians (1-2) for five catches, 120 yards and two touchdowns.

Blake Mount, who was also stellar defensively, added 107 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. Robby Espinosa scored on both of his receptions of 30 and 31 yards.

The Lancers outgained Ripon on offensive yardage, 456-361. It’s East Union’s fifth straight win over the Indians.

“Teams have to respect our speed,” Daniels said. “In the second half, they started double teaming and shading on Blake’s side, and that opened up opportunities for Fay and Robby to make plays.

“Robby is a go-getter. We put him in this week; he busted his butt to get a starting spot and proved himself. He made some crucial blocks last week against Kimbal and made some crucial catches tonight. Overall, really proud of Robby Espinosa stepping up tonight and making some big plays.”

It was Morales’ running ability that gave the Lancers (3-0) a needed spark after they fell behind, 13-0. Morales scampered 44 yards for their first touchdown, and off they went, scoring 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to take the halftime lead. East Union capitalized on two turnovers during that onslaught, as Anthony Oteri and Mount recovered loose balls on a kickoff and a botched snap, respectively.

Ripon did well to regain some momentum in the second half, scoring on back-to-back drives in the third quarter following an interception by Logan Lefebvre and Julian Deweerd’s recovery on a muffed kickoff. Ricky Langenfeld booted a 26-yard field goal late in the third quarter to give the Indians their final lead at 31-28.

Xaiden Reyes momentarily gave Ripon some life in the fourth quarter with a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown, but mounting injuries were too much for the Indians to overcome. They lost one of their top two-way players, wingback/outside linebacker Brett Shaw, early on with a knee injury, and more from other key skill positions would follow.

“We didn’t survive the battle of attrition,” Ripon coach Chris Musseman said. “We were down to three DBs (defensive backs) in the game who don’t ever get reps in practice, they only play scout team.

“Our kids played hard, and we battled. We just made some key mistakes, and I do think not having our full coverage unit, especially in that second half, cost us a few big plays. That was a big difference, and so was turning the ball over twice in our own area.”

Ripon quarterback J.J. Brawley (7-of-14 passing, 88 yards, two TDs) had to play cornerback late in the second half and nearly picked off a pass in the end zone late in the game when East Union tried to ice it with a touchdown. Diego Bustamante kicked a 21-yard field goal to give EU the 45-38 lead with 2:46 remaining.

Ripon, which converted on a high percentage of third- and fourth-down plays all game, was able to get as far as the Lancers’ 20-yard line on its final drive of the game. On fourth-and-5, Brawley was rushed into throwing an incomplete pass at the line of scrimmage while absorbing a hit from blitzing safety Julian Perez.

“We took a gamble there in the end with a backside blitz that we had practiced a couple times with coach (Corey) Norwood, and it paid off,” Daniels said.

Nathan Curless led Ripon with 101 rushing yards, 26 receiving and two touchdowns. Reyes finished with 75 yards and a touchdown on six rushes. Logan Lefebvre contributed 63 yards from scrimmage and a 23-yard touchdown reception.

While East Union looks to keep its perfect record next Friday at Enochs, Ripon limps into its bye before starting Trans-Valley League play Sept. 20 at home against Hughson. All three of the Indians’ games so far have been decided by one score.

“Our league is going to be a battle every week,” Musseman said. “We’re being battle tested. It would have been really helpful for us to be on the other side of this going into league, but we’ll try and get it back together and hopefully we can get somewhat healthy in the next week or so.”