SCORING SUMMARY
Hilmar 7 10 7 7 – 31
Ripon Christian 0 7 0 14 – 21
First quarter
H – Caden Bailey 7 run (Jacob Sward kick), 9:24
Second quarter
H
– Sward 22 FG, 9:53
R – Amos Cady 12 pass from Mason Tameling (Aaron Van Hofwegen kick), 3:01
H – John Labno 19 pass from Merek Ellerd (Sward kick), 0:08
Third quarter
H – Bailey 8 run (Sward kick), 10:27
Fourth quarter
R – Cady 39 pass from Tameling (Van Hofwegen kick), 9:26
H – Tanner Westmoreland 54 pass from Merek Ellerd (Sward kick), 8:28
R – Cady 64 run (Van Hofwegen kick), 7:33
Ripon Christian’s Amos Cady scored two of his three touchdowns in the third period Friday, but that was too little, too late, as visiting Hilmar welcomed the Knights back to the Trans-Valley League with a 31-21 win.
“We never gave up,” Ripon Christian coach Phil Grams said. “We still have some weapons, even with our injuries. I thought for a minute we were going to let our guard down, but we just kept fighting.
“A ball caught here, or a missed assignment there – they were just more fundamentally sound than us. I have a ton of respect for (Hilmar coach) Frank (Marques). He is one of the best guys in the business, and you have to be more fundamentally sound to beat them, and they were better than us tonight. That’s all there is to it.”
The Yellowjackets (1-0 TVL, 3-1 overall) scored two touchdowns in less than two minutes between the second and third quarters that put the game out of reach. Clinging to a 10-7 lead with time running down in the first half, Hilmar bumped that lead to 17-7 when Merek Ellerd (10 of 13 passing, 201 yards; 18 carries, 105 yards) found John Labno (five receptions, 74 yards) on a 19-yard scoring pass with 8 seconds showing on the clock.
The Yellowjackets took the second-half kickoff and promptly scored when Caden Bailey (17 carries, 111 yards) made it 24-17 on an 8-yard touchdown run with 10:27 left in the third period.
“We knew we were going to play a very formidable opponent,” Marques said. “We have a lot of respect for their program and their coach – he’s a really great guy.
“I knew we were going to come in here and have a battle on our hands, and they played really tough. They lost two really good players, and they just battled. We did what we had to do to win tonight but they never gave up. They fought really hard.”
Cady (nine carries, 73 yards; three receptions, 62 yards) got the Knights on the board with 3:01 left in the first half when he scored on a 12-yard pass from Mason Tameling (12 of 21 passing, 135 yards) to bring Ripon Christian within 10-7.
Cady’s two fourth-quarter scores came on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Tameling and on a 64-yard scoring scamper. Lushen Sanders added 32 yards on seven carries and Blake Stuit gained 36 yards on five catches.
Stuit led the Ripon Christian defense with 12 tackles. Aaron Van Hofwegen added nine stops, E.J. Bruno eight and Cady seven.
