Ripon defense stifles Hilmar in 7-3 Trans-Valley League victory
The Trans-Valley League is as deep as it’s ever been this season, so any win in the state’s toughest small-school league is critical.
The Ripon High football team didn’t win pretty on Friday night, beating Hilmar 7-3. But the Indians were quite happy to leave Stouffer Field with a valuable victory.
The Ripon defense, which entered the game giving up nearly 23 points a game, came up huge against the Yellowjackets.
“That defense saved the game for us tonight,” Ripon coach Chris Musseman said. “Offensively we struggled — we know we have issues there — and we’ve been relying on our defense to come through in a big game, and they came through big.”
The biggest play of the game was made by Ripon’s defense on the final play of the first half. Hilmar had the ball at Ripon’s 2-yard line with 3 seconds left and opted to go for the go-ahead touchdown rather than settle for a field goal.
Ripon’s defense stuffed Hilmar’s inside running play and the Yellowjackets would never get closer to a touchdown.
“They played lights-out,” Ripon quarterback Dylan Degraff said of his team’s defense. “We know our defense is our strong suit. ... The defense played strong all night.”
Degraff and the Indians offense did just enough to get the job done against a hard-hitting Hilmar defense. Caleb Johnston gave Ripon its only score, capping an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
The Indians feature a variety of weapons in the run game, including running backs Johnston, Daniel Espinoza and Jack Manning. Degraff also made some key throws to extend drives. That balance will prove important as the TVL season continues with big matchups still on the schedule.
The Yellowjackets’ offense, meanwhile, struggled to get into a rhythm. Penalties and turnovers plagued Hilmar.
Hilmar coach Frank Marques said he’s confident in his offense, despite the frustrating effort. Andre Alves’ 26-yard field goal in the first quarter was Hilmar’s only score.
“We’ve just got to clean up what we’re doing and keep playing hard and things are going to be OK,” Marques said.
The Yellowjackets (5-1, 1-1 TVL) don’t have much time to get things fixed. Hilmar travels to Escalon next Friday night, then hosts Hughson a week later.
While disappointed with the loss to Ripon, Marques has seen enough years in the TVL to know anything can happen, especially as deep as the league is this season.
“We have five teams that can win any night,” Marques said. “It’s fun to be a part of this. I didn’t, by any means, think we’d go undefeated the whole year.”
Ripon has the advantage of being 2-0 in the TVL, but the Indians (4-2 overall) will face a challenge in closing the league season against Livingston, Escalon and Hughson.
“I think it’s the most balanced I’ve ever seen the TVL,” Musseman said. “There are five teams that can win this league. And I told the guys before the game tonight, ‘Whoever wins the TVL is probably not going to be undefeated in league.’
“It’s that kind of league this year.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 11:51 PM with the headline "Ripon defense stifles Hilmar in 7-3 Trans-Valley League victory."
