Game Notes vs. Lake Forest College

RIPON, Wis. - Even though Ripon's football team will not be playing for the Midwest Conference championship this weekend, they still have plenty of things to play for in Saturday's season finale against Lake Forest.

A win over the Foresters would give Ripon Head Coach Ron Ernst his 160th carrer coaching victory, which would break the Midwest Conference football record of 159. Ernst is just one of two football coaches in MWC history to surpass 150 career wins, and has 65 more victories than the next-highest total in school history.

"If I happen to break that record this weekend, that's great. If not, it won't be for a lack of trying," Ernst said. "It would be a nice thing to have happen at home, especially with this particular group of seniors that I've really enjoyed working with, but right now, I'm just focused on trying to win our last game to finish the season with a 7-3 record. That would be a very good accomplishment, with all that other stuff being icing on the cake."

A win on Saturday would give the Red Hawks a victory in their season finale for the 11th time in the last 12 years, and would match their longest winning streak of the season (3). It would also give Ripon a final record of 7-3 or better for the seventh time in the last 10 years.

This will be the 49th meeting between Ripon and Lake Forest, with the Red Hawks holding a 34-11-3 advantage in the all-time series. Ripon has won eight of the last 10 meetings with the Foresters, but Lake Forest has won two of the last three. The last three meetings have also ended with the home team walking off the field victorious.

Ripon (6-3, 3-2 MWC North) enters the game ranking fourth in the MWC for fewest points allowed (19.7 ppg). Lake Forest (4-5, 3-2 MWC South) meanwhile, has been one of the highest scoring teams in the league, ranking fourth in the conference with 28.4 points per game.

"Lake Forest is one of the most balanced teams we've faced all season," Ernst said. "They can do some damage both running and passing, and they have athletes at every position that can make plays, which will be a challenge for us."

One of the challenges Ripon's defense will face is that of Lake Forest running back Charlie Quinn, who is the third-leading rusher in the MWC. The junior leads the Foresters with 706 yards and six touchdowns on the ground, while averaging 4.9 yards per carry. He also ranks seventh in the league in all-purpose yards (998), and is fourth on the team with 17 receptions for 160 yards. Last season, Quinn rushed for 137 yards and one touchdown against the Red Hawks, in a 26-23 Lake Forest victory to end the season.

"Quinn is a hard runner and he really hurt us last year," Ernst said. "He has great vision, so we're going to have to get a group effort from our defense in order to bring him down."

Ripon will try to stop Quinn and the rest of the Lake Forest attack with a defense that boasts the league leader in interceptions in Bradley Knoblock, who has picked off seven passes and defended a league-high 16. Fellow defensive back Dakotah Kirchenwitz leads the league in fumbles recovered, with three. As a whole, Ripon's defense ranks fifth in the MWC (345 yards/game) and has allowed a league-low two rushing touchdowns on the year. They have also allowed 15 points or fewer in four of their last five games.

"Our defense has been playing at a high level all season and I especially like how they've played during the past few weeks."

Although Lake Forest is one of the highest scoring teams in the MWC, the Forester defense has also given up their fair share of points, ranking sixth in the MWC, allowing 30.7 points per game. In every game the Foresters have played this season, at least one team has scored 34 points or more.

That bodes well for a Ripon offense that is starting to click, averaging 477 yards during the last two weeks. The Red Hawks have out-gained their opponenet in each of their last three games, after failing to do so in their first six contests.

"I think our offense has improved throughout the year and we seem to be executing very well in the past few games," Ernst said. "I'd like to see us be more consistent in the red zone and finish drives, but overall, they've been improving all season."

Saturday's game will begin at 1:30 p.m. at Ingalls Field in Ripon and can be seen live at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.