By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Bulletin Correspondent

The Ripon Indians went a long way towards bolstering their Sac-Joaquin Section playoff chances with an impressive 28-0 shutout win over the visiting Modesto Panthers Friday night at Stouffer Field.

The physical matchup between the non-conference foes only took place because Ripon had a void to fill in its schedule after Modesto Christian left the Trans-Valley League due to a lack of numbers. The challenge was a staunch one for Ripon and Head Coach Chris Musseman, who replaced the canceled matchup with one of the smallest schools in the area with a matchup against one of the biggest.

The Indians (2-3), set the tone early that they were going to be staunch on defense and control the clock with long sustained drives on the ground on offense.

After an opening possession three-and-out from Ripon, the Indians forced what would be their first of three turnovers on the night when they jumped on a fumbled option pitch exchange and took over with great field position at their own 46.

What ensued was a well balanced, seven-play, 54-yard drive highlighted by a quarterback JJ Brawley rolling to his right and finding tight end Logan Spear for 21 yards on fourth-and-8 for a drive-saving conversion.

On the very next play, running back Nathan Curless went 16 yards around the outside of the Panthers defensive line for the game’s first score putting the Indians up 7-0 late in the first quarter.

It was the first but nowhere near the last time the Indians found success running the ball outside, something Coach Musseman knew they would have to do.

“They did a really good job of putting nine guys inside our tackles, so really we just had to run outside all night.”

Curless, who led the Indians with 125 yards on 19 carries, many of them to the outside, scored his second 16-yard Touchdown of the night to put the home team up 14-0 with 10:22 left in the second quarter.

Playing with a two-score lead, the Indians defense locked down the Panthers (2-3) both on the ground and through the air. Led by the ball hawking play of senior linebacker Eric Guevara and junior nose guard Tipeti Paini, the Indians forced five straight possessions that ended in either a three-and-out or a turnover.

The Indians’ first half success on the ground ended with yet another Curless scoring scamper to the outside, this time from 5 yards out late in the second quarter to put his team up 21-0 at half.

The second half was much of the same for the Panthers, who never really found a rhythm on offense, due in large part to constant pressure from Ripon’s front combined with costly turnovers.

After forcing yet another Panthers turnover on downs, the Indians quickly punched in their fourth and final score of the night as Brawley connected on a 15-yard touchdown pass to running back Logan Lefebvre midway through the fourth quarter.

Despite what on the outside appears to be a huge win that bolster’s Ripon’s playoff resume going into the remainder of their tough TVL schedule, Coach Musseman knows there are some things for his team to clean up going into next week.

“Next is Orestimba, we’ve got a lot of work to do, we had some trouble with penalties tonight, and we’re not an offense built to be in first-and-20, second-and-20, so that was very frustrating for us.”

The Indians will look to continue their winning ways next week at TVL foe Orestimba, while the Panthers of Modesto open up Central California Athletic League league play in an away tilt against Enochs.