A week of tumult culminating in a 30-6 loss to Ripon Christian was not the wake-up call the Indians needed, said Ries, a third-year starter working his way back to form from a devastating knee injury.

The wake-up call came a week later, when Ripon (1-3, 3-5 overall) fended off Sonora 27-15 in a Trans-Valley League stunner that boosts its postseason chances.

The Wildcats (3-2, 6-0) were perfect through six games before its heartbreaking 52-51 loss at unbeaten Hughson on Oct. 11. Their visit to Ripon last Friday was supposed to be their bounce-back performance.

“It was really nice. A good wake-up call,” Ries said. “We proved to ourselves as individual players and as a team that we’re not as bad as we’ve been playing. It kind of proved a lot to our team that we have the athletes — we have everything we need. That showed us how good we can be as a team when we play as a unit.”

Ries did his part, in the defensive slugfest, finishing with a game-high 136 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. His 11-yard run iced the big win with 1:27 remaining, but his was set up by his best gain of the game.

Two plays before, on third down, Ries busted up the right sideline for a 58-yard dash to the Sonora 11-yard line. It was a deflating sequence for the Wildcats’ defense, which had Ripon pinned on its own 6 earlier in the drive.

“Oh man, that was just some great blocking by our linemen,” Ries said. “Our right tackle down-blocked perfectly and I think took out two guys on that play, and our pulling guard stuck it to their backer and pancaked him. That just opened up nothing but green grass for.”

The sturdy 5-foot-9, 195-pound fullback — he also plays middle linebacker and on the line defensively — is just happy to be back on the grass while competing alongside his teammates.

Ries’ productive sophomore season was ended by an ACL sprain. His junior campaign was also cut short, that time by tears to multiple ligaments in a knee.

He was not cleared to begin working out with the team until four weeks ago and made his season debut in the 10-7 setback at Orestimba on Oct. 4.

“It was definitely a lot of hard work that needed to be put in, and there wasn’t a day that was easy,” Ries said. “It’s a journey just to get back to the sport that I love, and that’s what helped me come back. I wasn’t going to come back scared, I wanted to come back stronger than I left.

“It helped to see the team in our early games and how good we are. We were able to stay with these really good teams when nobody thought that we could. I put in the hard work just to get back to my teammates and play with them one last time.”

Ries’ return has coincided with the arrival of All-TVL first-team cornerback Dru Orlando, who also missed an entire offseason of work while recovering from a back injury.

Ripon has had to deal with other injuries to key players, such as a Brett Shaw (knee), but Ries credits the leadership of fellow seniors Jehren Arriola, Nate Curless, Logan Lefebvre and Logan Spear for holding it all together.

The playoffs seemed to be beyond their reach just a week ago, but the Indians are now in position to get their required fourth win to qualify in the final two weeks of the regular season. They’ll take their first shot at home this Friday against rival Escalon (2-2, 3-5) before closing at Hilmar (2-2, 4-4) on Week 10.

“We have to go into these games with the same drive and same hunger,” Ries said. “If we want to have a longer season, we have to go into these games the same way we went into the Sonora game — keep that chip on our shoulder, execute and stay disciplined as a team.”