Game Notes at Macalester

RIPON, Wis. - Winners of two of their last three games, while outscoring their opponents by a margin of 107-45 during that span, the Ripon College football team will hope to keep things rolling on Saturday when they'll travel to St. Paul, Minn. to visit Macalester College. This will be the seventh meeting on the gridiron between these two teams, with Ripon leading the all-time series 4-2. The road team has won four of the last five meetings, including last season when Macalester won 16-8 in Ripon.

The Red Hawks (2-4, 1-1 MWC) are coming off a 52-28 victory at Beloit in which they led 31-6 at halftime, while Macalester (4-2, 2-0 MWC) edged Lawrence last week, 21-6. That sets up a huge meeting this weekend in which Macalester is looking to keep pace with St. Norbert atop the MWC North Division, but a Ripon win would propel the Red Hawks into a second-place tie in the conference standings.

Last week's win at Beloit saw Ripon jump on the Buccaneers early, leading 21-0 after the first quarter. That marks the third consecutive week that Ripon either led or was tied after one quarter of play after entering the second quarter with a deficit during each of their first three games.

"It was really good to see the team get off to a good start," Ripon Head Coach Ron Ernst said. "We had a great week of practice, while staying focused, which paid off for us."

A big reason for last week's win was the play of freshman quarterback Julian Patton, who leads the MWC's top rushing attack that is averaging 254 yards per game. Patton gained a career-high 200 yards on 23 carries (8.7 ypg) against Beloit, while scoring three rushing touchdowns and passing for another score. Thrust into the starting lineup due to an injury in week one, Patton currently ranks third in the MWC with 564 rushing yards, while his nine touchdowns on the ground is tied for second.

"Julian is progressing every week and is going to continue to improve," Ernst said. "He's still making some freshman mistakes, but he's athletic enough to get out of those mistakes and once he eliminates those, he's going to be very special and someone that will be hard to stop."

Ripon will face a team Saturday in Macalester that is the polar opposite, as the Scots enter the weekend leading the MWC in passing with 274.5 yards per game through the air. Quarterback Christian Adams leads the league with 264.8 yards per game and 11 touchdowns, which is tied for fourth in the MWC. His top receiver, Alec Beatty is one of the most consistent players in the league, leading the conference in receiving yards (651), while ranking second in receptions (36) and receiving touchdowns (7). Beatty is averaging 18.1 yards per reception, and has two 100-yard performances this season.

"They have a very good passing attack, but we can't be too concerned about just one player because they have a lot of other guys that can get the job done," Ernst said. "They're very efficient in what they do and they do it very well."

Also playing well this season is Ripon's defense, which is limiting opponents to 23.3 points per game, including just 15 points per game in their last three contests. That unit also ranks fourth in the MWC in total defense (291.0 ypg), fifth in pass defense (195.7 ypg), and second in rushing defense (95.3 ypg). In fact, Ripon's run defense is one of the best in school history, as their average yardage allowed would rank fourth in the 126-year history of the program, and is less than four yards per game shy of the school record of 91.8, set in Ripon's 1966 MWC Championship season.

"We have one of the best defenses in the conference because it's very hard to run the ball on us and our secondary is playing really well," Ernst said. "My concern before the season was how the secondary would perform, but we've had some players really step up and bolster that unit."

Saturday's game will begin at 1 p.m. in St. Paul, Minn. and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.