The Ripon Indians will challenge the Escalon Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Ripon took a loss when they played away from home last Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They walked away with a 27-15 win over Sonora. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Indians' disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 474th, while the Wildcats are ranked 186th).
Ripon wouldn't let Sonora keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force four fumbles. Brody Nail led the group effort, picking up two of those forced fumbles all by himself.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Escalon). They blew past Ripon Christian 43-20 on Friday. The high-scoring effort was just what the Cougars needed considering they were shutout in their previous matchup.
Escalon's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Carson Medina, who gained 89 total yards and three touchdowns, and Logan Huebner, who threw for 97 yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Medina a new career-high in rushing yards. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Ben Gonzalez, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Ripon's win bumped their record up to 3-5. As for Escalon, their victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 3-5.
Ripon was dealt a bruising 40-7 loss at the hands of Escalon in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Ripon, Joshua Graham (who rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
