Ripon High opened the season Friday in a wild slugfest with visiting Linden.

The long, drawn-out battle – particularly in the second half – ended with the Lions’ kicker Sebastian Trujillo delivering on a 33-yard field goal to give his team a 47-44 victory.

“We made a lot of mistakes tonight,” said Indians coach Chris Musseman. “Most of those are fixable.”

Defense was a concern. Ripon had no answer for quarterback Matthew Schallberger, who completed 19 of his 29 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns.

He managed to convert on three of his two-point conversion passes, while also running in for another score late in the game.

“We made some critical penalties,” Musseman said of those mistakes that came late in the game.

Ripon (0-1) had some early first-half struggles before catching fire shortly before halftime.

Linden (1-0) opened the game by going 68 yards on six plays, capped off by Schallberger hitting DeAndre Smith on a 7-yard touchdown.

The Indians caught a break when the Lions’ special teams sailed a snap over the head of punter Schallberger – he did that, too – into the end zone for a two-point safety.

In the second quarter, Ripon finally got its offense untracked with runs by Nathan Curless – he was among the defensive standouts in the game – Eric Guevara, and Brett Shaw, who was just warming up.

Quarterback J.J. Brawley found Logan Lefebvre on fourth-down pass to keep the drive alive. Lefebvre powered his way into the end zone from 2 yards out to give his team the lead.

That was short lived, as the Lions marched down the field on their ensuing possession, with Schallberger once again hitting Smith for the score.

But shortly before the half ended, Shaw took an inside reverse, racing 73 yards to paydirt to give Ripon a 16-14 edge at the intermission.

Linden’s special teams returned an earlier favor in the third quarter, blocking a punt and allowing Ross Herrington to scoop up the ball for a TD.

Ripon responded on its possession with Brawley hitting Logan Spear, who turned the play into 64-yard score.

Nose guard Tipeti Paini then recovered a fumble to give his team excellent field position. The Indians took advantage of the turnover, with Shaw racing 18 yards for another TD.

Later in the quarter, the Ripon defense came through with a fourth-down stop. Shaw scored once again, boosting his team to a 37-22 lead at the 2:19 mark.

Linden opened the fourth with Dax Weber hauling in an 8-yard pass from Schallberger, who once again found his favorite target, Smith, for the two-point conversion.

The Lions’ Angel Rubio came up with a fumble. Schallberger followed that up by connecting once again with Weber – the 16-yard pass play trimmed the lead to one (Ripon was successful in stopping the two-point try), 37-36.

Shaw scored his fourth touchdown at the 9:06 mark of the fourth, going 50 yards to add to Ripon’s lead, 44-36.

Linden took advantage of several penalties including a pair of personal fouls late in the game.

The Lions tied the game at 44-44 at the 5:44 mark – Schallberger scored on a 6-yard run and found Weber on the two-point conversion – and delivered the game-winner soon after.

Musseman is looking for his team to put the heartbreaking loss of Game 1 of the season behind.

“We’re growing,” he said of his team’s overall lack of experience at the varsity level.