DECORAH, Iowa -- The Ripon College football team fell to Luther College 35-20 on Saturday afternoon at Carlson Stadium.
Luther opened the scoring with a touchdown in the first quarter before adding another early in the second to take a 14-0 lead. The Red Hawks responded with a quick scoring drive, as junior Brady Immel (Winneconne, Wis., Winneconne HS) connected with sophomore Zeke Clark (North Henderson, Ill., United HS) for a 31-yard touchdown pass to get Ripon on the board.
Ripon continued to chip away at the deficit, as senior Ben Crock (Mount Vernon, Iowa, Buena Vista University) converted a 34-yard field goal to make it a 14-10 game. After Luther extended its lead with a touchdown pass, sophomore Bilal Abdullah (Racine, Wis., J.I. Case High) provided an immediate answer, returning the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Crock's extra point brought the Red Hawks within four at 21-17 heading into halftime.
Luther added a touchdown in the third quarter to extend its advantage to 28-17. Ripon continued to battle in the fourth, putting together a 14-play, 67-yard drive that ended with Crock's second field goal of the afternoon, this one from 18 yards out, cutting the deficit to 28-20.
However, Luther responded with a 61-yard rushing touchdown to extend its lead to 35-20, which held for the remainder of the game.
Immel led the Red Hawks on the ground with 99 rushing yards on 13 carries while completing 13 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. Clark led Ripon's receiving corps with five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown. Abdullah added the 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, while Crock connected on both of his field-goal attempts.
Defensively, sophomore Jayden Morris (Weddington, NC, Weddington HS) led Ripon with 10 total tackles, including six solo stops. Senior Desean Smith (Lake Park, Ga., Lowndes HS) added six tackles and a team-high three tackles for loss.
The Red Hawks will return to action on Saturday, Oct 31, traveling to the University of Chicago for a 1pm kickoff.
