MANTECA – Ripon High and East Union waged a 3½-hour shootout, an endurance test on a warm Friday night that left both teams gasping for air.
The Lancers’ relentless safety-receiver Blake Mount gutted through most of the second half on an injured leg. Brett Shaw, Ripon’s leading rush entering the game, exited during the first quarter with what was feared to be a serious knee injury. The game was stopped several times as injured players were treated.
It ended the way it was seemingly predestined—Ripon at the EU 20 yard line and seconds left on the clock. On 4th down, East Union’s blitzing Julian Perez crashed into quarterback J.J. Brawley to force a harmless incompletion. The Lancers soon celebrated a wildly entertaining 45-38 victory and a 3-0 record at Dino Cunial Field.
Get this: It could have been even more compelling had Ripon scored the final touchdown. Would the Indians have gone for the 2-pointer and the win?
“Yes,” coach Chris Musseman said. “Absolutely.”
East Union (3-0), hinting at improvement under first-year coach Booie Daniels, made that decision moot with the clutch stop and a good fourth quarter.
Quarterback Anthony Morales, a senior in his first start this season, answered all questions by passing for 295 yards and five touchdowns, plus a 44-yard read-option rip for the Lancers’ opening touchdown. But it was his 47-yarder to Mount, sore leg and all, that put East Union ahead to stay with 10:01 to go.
“In the fourth quarter, we started to lock it in,” Mount said. “It’s a mentality thing. If you think you can beat someone, it becomes a possibility.”
Trusting anything this night was a wish. Ripon and East Union exchanged the lead five times. The Indians (1-2) landed the first punch with the game’s first 13 points, a run countered by the Lancers’ 21-0 rally to end the first half in front 21-13.
Ripon responded after halftime with two touchdowns by Nathan Curless (109 rushing yards)-- a 26-yard reception from J.J. Brawley and a 42-yard dash up the middle.
The momentum switched again when Morales’ arcing passes found their targets against Ripon’s injury-slowed secondary. Jackson Fay (5 catches, 122 yards) stepped beyond the coverage to bring in his second TD pass, a 53-yarder.
“We are a little more physical than last year,” Fay said. “We are going to stay together as a team no matter what.”
Robby Espinosa also was a force with his scoring receptions of 32 and 30 yards. Ripon regained the lead 38-35 on Xaiden Reyes’ second high-wattage touchdown, this one a 90-yard kickoff return sojourn past the EU bench.
The rest of the night, however, belonged to the Lancers. Morales’ pass to Mount toward the pylon, followed later by a time-eating drive capped by Diego Bustamante’s short field goal (he also was 6-for-6 on conversions), gave East Union the advantage.
“Anthony was throwing his receivers open all night, which is what we practice. We do have track speed,” Daniels praised. “The heart we showed on that last stop shows us the team we can be.”
An important consolation for Ripon (1-2) is that it can’t be more battle-tested. All three of its games have come down to the final moments. In two weeks after a needed bye, the Indians open another rigorous season in the Trans-Valley League at home against Hughson.
“We didn’t survive the battle of attrition (tonight),” Musseman said. “Our league is going to be a battle.”
At one point in the fourth quarter, Mount leaned on an assistant coach just to walk off the field. It was that kind of game, a who-will-be-left-standing test of wills.
East Union passed the test.
East Union 45, Ripon 38
Ripon 7-6-18-7—38
East Union 0-21-7-17—45
1st Quarter
R—Logan Lefebvre 23 pass from J.J. Brawley (Ricky Langenfeld kick)
2nd Quarter
R—Xaiden Reyes 61 run (kick failed)
EU—Anthony Morales 44 run (Diego Bustamante kick)
EU—Jackson Fay 15 pass from Morales (Bustamante kick)
EU—Robby Espinosa 32 pass from Morales (Bustamante kick)
3rd Quarter
R—Nathan Curless 26 pass from Brawley (Lefebvre run)
R—Curless 42 run (Langenfeld kick)
EU—Fay 53 pass from Morales (Bustamante kick)
R—FG Langenfeld 26
4th Quarter
EU—Espinosa 30 pass from Morales (Bustamante kick)
R—Reyes 90 kickoff return (Langenfeld kick)
EU—Blake Mount 47 pass from Morales (Bustamante kick)
EU—FG Bustamante 21
Records—Ripon 1-2, East Union 3-0
JV—Ripon 29-22
