It was a tale of two halves for the Ripon High Indians.

Against longtime rival Escalon, they went from being efficient early on to making untimely mistakes, particularly in the second half of the Trans-Valley League clash.

The Cougars, who trailed at the half, bounced back to win this 77th meeting, 23-14.

"We made too many mistakes," said Ripon interim coach Cole Williams.

Penalties turned out to be drive-killers for the Indians (1-4, 3-6), who will travel to Hilmar next week in pursuit of postseason considerations.

Escalon (3-2, 4-5) helped its cause thanks to the victory at Stouffer Field.

Ripon, behind the Logan Lefebvre and JJ Brawley connection, led 14-7 at the intermission.

The duo scored on passes of 40 and 15 yards.

The ground game was spearheaded behind the hard-nose running of Anden Ries, who racked up most of his 47 yards on 13 carries in the first half.

The Cougars' touchdown came in response to Ripon's opening score at 7:51 mark of the first quarter. Chase Cummings and quarterback Logan Huebner teamed up for a 19-yard TD to even things up at 7-7.

Indian linebacker Jehren Arriola snuffed out a drive by coming up with a ricochet interception.

Escalon strung together a 70-yard scoring drive on that first possession of the third quarter.

Running back Carson Medina, who had a game-high 76 yards on 17 carries, barreled the ball in from the 5, tying the game at 14-14.

Penalties hurt the Indians on their next two possessions.

"It's tough to get the offense going on second (down) and long," said Williams.

Contrastly, the Cougars were helped out by the untimely infractions by Ripon (most of the 10 penalties for 88 yards occurred in the second half).

Included was the one that set-up the go-ahead score — Felix Chavez's 32 yard field goal early in the fourth.

Down 17-14, the Indians had a great opportunity at 6:43 in the fourth quarter. The defense held, forcing Escalon to put from deep in its own territory.

The result was a punt that rested at the Cougars 42.

But on the next play, Ripon coughed up the ball.

Escalon recovered the fumble, and eventually put the game away on Huebner's quarterback keeper from a yard out.

Williams is hopeful that his team can clean up its mistakes in time for the upcoming regular season finale.