MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - The Ripon College Red Hawks built a 21-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back en route to a 49-14 victory over Cornell College in a Midwest Conference game Saturday afternoon at Van Metre Field at Ash Park. The win is Ripon's third straight over Cornell and the Red Hawks now lead the all-time series, 4-2.

Red Hawks quarterback Jarrett Zibert had himself a day, as he went 16-for-28 for 240 yards and four touchdowns through the air and added another 37 rushing yards on five carries as well. Zibert spread the ball around all game long, connecting with six different receivers and throwing touchdown passes to four of those six. 

Ripon (3-0, 2-0) took the game's opening kickoff and promptly marched 60 yards in six plays before Zibert found Brock Turkington for a 7-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. Erik Flores made the extra point and the Red Hawks led, 7-0, just 3:07 into the game. A bad snap on Cornell's punt on its opening possession put Ripon in business at the Rams' 2-yard line and on the next play, Cormac Madigan scored on a 2-yard run and Flores's extra point made it 14-0 Ripon with 10:17 still to go in the first quarter. 

On the subsequent kickoff, a long return by Cornell's Isaiah Spencer gave the Rams (1-2, 1-1) the ball at Ripon's 23, but the Red Hawks stopped Cornell on a 4th-and-goal at the Ripon 6-yard line to keep the score 14-0. Ripon's offense kept rolling, driving 94 yards in seven plays, capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by Ramage, and the PAT by Flores put the Red Hawks up, 21-0, with 2:53 to go in the opening period.

Cornell got its offense going early in the second quarter, going 51 yards in nine plays before LaQuanta Crawford hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Modrynski to get the Rams on the board. Adam Mitchell made the extra point to get Cornell back to within 21-7 with 10:06 to go before halftime. However, the Red Hawks were able to score one more time before the break, as Kaipo Magsayo caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Zibert with 1:30 left in the quarter and Ripon took a 28-7 lead into the locker room.

Ripon piled up 197 yards of offense (110 passing, 87 rushing) and 11 first downs in the opening two quarters, averaging over seven yards per play, while limiting Cornell to 122 yards (98 passing, 24 rushing) and just more than three yards per play. The Red Hawks also caused three turnovers, recovering two of three Cornell fumbles and picking off a pass as well.

Midway through the third quarter, Zibert got his third passing touchdown of the game when he hooked up with Madigan on a 16-yard score to put the Red Hawks ahead, 35-7, with 6:22 to go in the period. The pass finished off a 16-play, 85-yard drive by Ripon that took over seven minutes off the clock. Zibert's fourth TD pass to his fourth different receiver occurred early in the final quarter, as he connected with Alex Mosqueda on a 40-yard strike to put Ripon up, 42-7, with 10:41 remaining.

Just more than three minutes later, Cornell got one back after a 9-yard touchdown run by Joel Lacy to close the gap to 42-14 with 8:12 showing on the clock. However, Ripon would get one more touchdown to close out the scoring, as backup quarterback Jack Berens ran one in from 13 yards out with 1:11 remaining to make it 49-14 Red Hawks.

For the game, Ripon piled up 443 yards of offense on its 67 plays, an average of 6.6 yards per play, and 25 first downs. Along with the 240 passing yards, the Red Hawks had another 203 rushing yards on 38 carries, an average of 5.3 yards per tote. Madigan had 16 carries for 103 yards, six receptions for another 89 yards and a pair of touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving), Ramage had 35 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, Magsayo finished with three catches for 30 yards and a touchdown and Tiegan Bothun caught three passes for 37 yards.

Meanwhile, the Ripon defense held Cornell in check for most of the game. The Rams had only 230 yards on their 64 plays, an average of 3.6 yards per play. Cornell's quarterbacks were just 11-for-28 for 159 yards through the air and the Rams managed only 71 yards on 36 carries, an average of 2.0 yards per carry. Zach Bunders had six solo tackles and two pass breakups, Clay Ritschard netted five solo tackles and a pass breakup and Damean Netzler posted five solo tackles, two solo tackles for loss and a sack to lead the Red Hawk defense.

The Red Hawks are now off until Oct. 1, when they travel to Jacksonville, Ill., to take on the Illinois College Blueboys (1-2, 0-2) in another Midwest Conference matchup. Kickoff at England Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.