MEQUON, Wis. - Ripon's football team fell behind 20-0 mid-way through the second quarter of Saturday's game at Concordia (Wis.), but the Red Hawks proved their mettle on this day, storming back with 23 points in the final 33 minutes. That proved to be too little, too late however, as Concordia (Wis.) came out on top with a 33-23 victory. The Red Hawks out-gained Concordia 510-419 in total yardage, as the Red Hawks showed the versatility of their new spread offense, which went for 223 yards on the ground and 287 more through the air.

Concordia (Wis.) (2-2) broke a scoreless tie less than three minutes into the contest, as they scored on a 20-yard pass completion from James Linn to Al'Jarius Kelly on the second play of the drive. The Falcons added to that lead later in the opening quarter quen Josh Turner found paydirt from three yards out. They would make the score 20-0 mid-way through the second quarter on another Linn TD pass, this time to Samuel Campbell for 56 yards. The Red Hawks scored their first points when Tiegan Bothun recovered an offensive fumble and punched the ball into the end zone, cutting CUW's lead to 20-7, but Concordia managed one more TD in the final minute of the half as James connected with Kelly for a 25-yard score.

After a 31-yard field goal made the score 27-10 with under four minutes left in the third quarter, James connected on his fourth TD pass of the game, hooking up with Charlie Schnell for a 45-yard score to give CUW a 33-10 lead entering the final quarter. The Red Hawks scored two touchdowns in the fourth on a 14-yard run by quarterback Cormac Madigan and a 10-yard pass from Madigan to Kevin Thao.

Madigan led Ripon with 191 yards rushing on 32 carries, while also completing 31-of-48 passes for 299 yards. That ties a school record for single game pass completions, while ranking seventh in program history for single game pass attempts. Parker Campana and Masyn Ulrich each caught five passes for 82 and 61 yards, respectively. Kaipo Magsayo added a team-high seven catches for 46 yards, while Chase Flink had six receptions for 40 yards. Eight different Red Hawks caught at least one pass in the game.

Defensively, Ripon was led by Zach Bunders, who had a team-high seven tackles, to go along with a fumble recovery, an interception, and a pass breakup. Reece Schreckengust also recorded seven tackles, while Tyler Bair notched the team's lone quarterback sack.

Linn completed 18-of-26 passes for 275 yards and four scores, to go along with 59 yards on four carries (14.8 ypc). Turner led the Falcons on the ground with 94 yards on 15 carries. Concordia intercepted Ripon twice, with both picks coming by Evan Lischka. The Falcons also recorded five sacks.

Ripon will be in action again on April 24 when they'll travel to Lake Forest College in what will be their Spring 2021 season finale. That game will begin at 1 p.m. in Lake Forest, Ill., and can be seen live, along with LiveStats at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.