Game Notes at Wisconsin Lutheran

Ripon, Wis. - If ever a team was thirsty for revenge, it is this year's Ripon College football team. After opening last season with a 31-0 loss against Wisconsin Lutheran at home, the Red Hawks will hope to quench that thirst on Saturday, as they'll again open the season against Wisconsin Lutheran, this time on the road in Milwaukee.

This will mark the fourth consecutive season the two teams have opened the season against each other. Ripon holds a 2-1 series record in the three previous meetings. Prior to last year's convincing Wisconsin Lutheran victory, Ripon had won the previous two meetings by a combined score of 62-23. With a new year upon us, and in Wisconsin Lutheran's case, a new head coach and philosophy in place, you can throw all the records out the window.

"It's going to be difficult to prepare for them this year because schematically, we don't have a great idea about what they're going to do," Ripon Head Football Coach Ron Ernst said. "We're going to go into the game with a certain idea about what we need to do and keep things as simple as possible, while going out and just playing football."

Ripon is coming off an up-and-down season that saw them start off slow by losing their first four games. They recovered to win five of their final six to finish with a 5-5 record in what was the program's 18th consecutive non-losing season. The 2012 version of the Red Hawks had no trouble scoring, as they finished with 310 points on the season, which ranks ninth in school history. They did at times however, have trouble keeping the other team out of the end zone, allowing at least 30 points in six of their 10 games including their final two, which were won by the Red Hawks.

With a new season comes new beginnings and a chance to wipe those stats away and start with a clean slate. Ripon's first test will come Saturday against a Wisconsin Lutheran team that scored 26.6 points per game and allowed a Northern Athletics Conference-low 13 points per contest.

"We've been practicing against each other during the past few weeks, so we'll need to find out where we stand against other competition," Ernst said. "This game will tell us a lot about what our strenghths and weaknesses are and it will help us prepare for the conference season."

One player Ripon will have to stop Saturday night will be Donavin Tucker, who is arguably one of the most dynamic Division-III football players in the state. The senior from Brookfield, Wis. is coming off a season that saw him finish second on the team with 519 rushing yards on 110 carries (4.7 ypc) and five touchdowns. He also caught 10 passes for 107 yards (10.7 ypr), which was fourth on the team, and another score. Possibly his most effective position however is as a kick returner where he averaged 25.2 yards on 16 returns, including one touchdown.

"We never scheme to stop one guy in particular," Ernst said. "Instead, we scheme to stop certain concepts. We have to be aware of where he is on the field and rally to the ball the best that we can and limit his opportunities. We want to be solid in all three phases of the game and we have to prove that we can handle any situation."

Tucker isn't the player on Wisconsin Lutheran's roster that Ripon will have to stop. They also return their leading rusher, Mike Reeves, who rushed for 808 yards and six touchdowns last season, and their second-leading receiver, Caleb Wolf, who caught 23 passes for 304 yards and a score a year ago.

"They have some players that played well against us last year," Ernst said. "They also have some good players on defense, so we'll just have to block and tackle well and make plays that affect the outcome of the game in a positive way. If we do that, we'll be in great shape to bring home a 'W'."

Kickoff for the 2013 season opener is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Raabe Stadium in Milwaukee. It can be viewed live at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wlc.portal#, with LiveStats also available at that link.