RIPON, Wis. - Ripon defeated Macalester College 58-34 Saturday afternoon in a game that was never in doubt, with Ripon scoring three touchdowns in the game's first four minutes. The Red Hawks wasted no time, scoring the first points of the game just 12 seconds into the contest when Brent Anderson returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for the score, marking the ninth-longest kickoff return in the 127-year history of the program.

"Returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown was a big boost for us, and our players continued to build momentum and make plays all day," Ripon Head Coach Ron Ernst said. "Our offense played extremely well, as did our defense against the number one passing team in our league. This was a total complete victory and I'm very proud of every player on our team."

After Macalester's first possession went three-and-out, and ended with a botched snap on a punt, Ripon recovered and were in the end zone again just seconds later on a seven-yard run by Austin Bunders with one minute and five seconds expired in the first quarter. Ripon added a third touchdown in the opening minute when they capped off a three-play, 82-yard drive with a 51-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cormac Madigan. Madigan would add a second touchdown on the last play of the quarter, scoring from 30 yards out to give Ripon a 27-0 lead heading into the second period.

Kyle Jobke added to Ripon's lead with a 40-yard field goal four and a half minutes into the second quarter. Then Ripon's defense got into the action when Armando Mosqueda picked up a fumble and returned it 75 yards for a score to give Ripon a 37-0 lead. Macalester then scored their first points of the game on an 18-yard pass from Grady Munro to Jack Streibich. Ripon answered that score with Madigan's third touchdown of the half, this time from 29 yards away just before halftime.

Macalester scored the first points of the second half on a two-yard run by Jeremy Stephan to make the score 44-7. Madigan then scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a two-yard run of his own in the final minutes of the third quarter, giving him 10 rushing touchdowns in Ripon's last two games.

Ripon's defense continued to make plays in the final quarter, as Lane Barnes got into the action with a 44-yard fumble return for a score. Macalester then scored 20 points in the final 11 and a half minutes, but the Red Hawks' lead was too much to overcome.

Ripon has now scored at least 49 points in four of their seven games this season, and have scored 303 poiints this season, which ranks 10th in program history with three games still to play. Ripon forced five turnovers, as they remain one of the top teams in Division-III in takeaways.

"We worked very hard this week on stopping Macalester's offense, and we did some things that I thought would give them trouble," Ernst said. "Our defense responded well to the game plan, and they executed it tremendously.

Madigan finished the3 game with 188 yards rushing on 18 carries (10.4 ypc), while Bunders was second on the team with 60 yards on seven carries (8.6 ypc). Defensively, Barnes led the way with seven tackles. Cameron Gruenwald recorded two interceptions, giving him three on the season, while Devin Smith intercepted his second pass of the year.

The win moves Ripon into a second-place tie with Macalester and University of Chicago in the MWC North standings. Ripon will travel to University of Chicago next Saturday at 1 p.m. That game can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.

"We still have Chicago and Lawrence on our conference schedule, which will be two tough games, but we need to take them one at a time and clean up some things in order to get better each week," said Ernst.