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Thursday, October 30, 2014 - Page 21
Sports
RiponPress.com Sports Poll
Last week’s sports question on RiponPress.com asked readers how the Milwaukee Bucks will fare this season.
Here are the results:‰ Make the playoffs 14% ‰ Miss the playoffs 52%‰ I don’t care 33%
This week’s question: What grade would you give the Packers for the first half of their season? ‰ A ‰ B ‰ C‰ D ‰ F
To vote, log on to www.riponpress.com and click on Sports. The poll is located on the right side of the page. Poll results will be pub-lished in the following week’s Commonwealth.
Ryan Kane
RIPON
RECAP
The former University of Wisconsin-Green Bay ball boy will lead his Ripon Col-lege men’s basketball team against the Phoenix Thursday.
Kane was a ball boy for UW-Green Bay in 1991 and 1992 and idolized many of the players, including now-Riponites Dean Vander Plas and Dean Rondorf.
He still has VHS tapes from many of the Phoenix’s games in which he served as a ball boy.
“I never would have dreamed that I would have been coach-ing against UWGB. Never,” Kane said. “I always wanted to wear the Phoenix uniform and, obviously, I never achieved that level of competition.”
Kane is entering his third season as the Red Hawks’ head coach and has a record of 28-20.
He has led them to the Mid-west Conference tournament in both of his first two seasons.
Before he came to Ripon, he served as an assistant at Lo-ras College, Lawrence Univer-sity and Dominican University.
LOCAL
SPOTLIGHT
BY THE
NUMBERS5,233
The difference in enroll-ment size between Ripon College and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The two schools will play each other Thursday in a men’s basketball exhibition game at the Resch Center.
For more information on the game, including the rest of the “Tale of the Tape,” see the story on the top of this page.
INSIDE
SPORTS
‰ Red Hawk volleyball team takes care of business against Knox Prairie Fire see page 22
‰ Ripon College men’s hoops team hosts Red Hawk Dunkers program see page 22
‰ RC women’s soccer team clinches third-straight 10-win season see page 22
by Jonathan [email protected]
The Ripon College football team has played many of the top teams in the Midwest Conference.
None of them measure up to what it experienced last week Saturday at the hands of Carroll.
The Red Hawks fell behind the Pioneers 28-0 after one half and 41-0 early in the third quarter en route to a 48-14 loss at Ingalls Field.
With the loss, Ripon falls to 1-6 this season, while Carroll improves to 7-0 and now has out-scored its opponents by a combined 281-74.
“I think, right now, Carroll is the best team in the league,” Ripon head coach Ron Ernst said, adding his team has played five of the conference’s top-six teams. “They certainly have the package put to-gether where they can run, they can throw and play very good defense. If I were a betting man, I would say they are an odds-on favorite to win the championship. They did a very nice job of executing and we, at times, showed flashes of doing
by Jonathan [email protected]
Growing up, Ryan Kane dreamed of playing for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB).
A ball boy for the Phoenix back in 1991 and 1992, the Ripon College men’s basketball coach idolized many of the players — including now-Riponites Dean Vander Plas and Dean Rondorf.
While that dream never came true, he will receive a chance to face his childhood team Thursday, when the Red Hawks will travel to the Resch Center for an exhibition game with the Fighting Phoenix.
“I never would have dreamed that I would have been coaching against UWGB. Never,” Kane said. “I always wanted to wear the Phoe-nix uniform and, obviously, I never achieved that level of competition.”
The game came about after Kane and UWGB head coach Brian Wardle crossed paths this summer during a period of live recruiting.
“He had congratulated me two years ago when I got the job [here] and wished me well,” Kane said. “... I asked him if he would ever be interesting in playing and he said, ‘Yeah, I don’t think we’ve played Ripon, so let’s get it on the sched-ule.’ I just kind of kept pestering him about it and here it is.”
While the teams have not faced each other in either coach’s respec-tive tenures with their programs, the schools have met.
The Phoenix overcame a first-
by Jonathan [email protected]
“If you build it, they will come.”
That’s not quite what was said in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams,” but it fits the tale for two local kids this past August.
Brice Peth and Max Huseboe represented Ripon on the Wiscon-sin All-Stars team at the Cooper-stown Dreams Park in New York.
The facility calls itself the “crown jewel of youth baseball.”
“I am going to remember all the fields and standing in the barracks with no parents,” Peth said. “The main thing would be the fields. There was 21 of them. They lighted them and the sched-ule changes all the time.”
“Probably just getting out and seeing the Cooperstown Dreams
half deficit to defeat the Bob Gil-lespie-led Hawks 97-81 in 2005.
That meeting came shortly after the NCAA said Division I schools could schedule exhibition games
with Division III teams.Even though this year is not the
first time the teams will meet, Kane is pleased to be able to provide his players with such an experience.
“I am excited about the upper-classman having an opportunity they haven’t had before,” Kane said. “They may have had peers or friends of theirs that have compet-
ed against a Division I school in an exhibition, so I am excited for those guys ... And then, we’re a young
Tale of the tape
Year established
Enrollment (NCAA Division)
Nickname
Last year’s record
Coach (season)
Top returner
Ripon College UW-Green Bay
1851
933 (III)
Red Hawks
15-9
Ryan Kane (third)
Ty Sabin - So.19.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg,
51% 3-point shooting
Nine (2002)0-1 (97-81 loss)
1965
6,166 (I)
Fighting Phoenix
24-7
Brian Wardle (fifth)
Keifer Sykes - Sr.20.3 ppg, 4.9 apg,
4.4 rpg
10 (1996)1-0 (97-81 win)
NCAA Appearances (last)
Series (last game)
Battle of the birds set for Thursday
Park sign and driving underneath that and then parking in the bar-racks,” Huseboe added of what he will remember from the expe-rience. “It was just amazing.”
The Ripon boys, both seventh graders, qualified for the team through try-outs in Oshkosh.
They embarked on the trip to Cooperstown Aug. 5 — Peth was already in New York as a result of representing the central region in a tournament the weekend before — and didn’t return to Wisconsin until Aug. 15.
The competition overlapped the Little League World Series, in which female pitcher Mo’ne Davis took the nation by storm.
Despite the Little League World Series being televised and garnering a lot more attention, Huseboe and Peth believe where they played was tougher.
“I think that there is more competition at the Cooperstown, N.Y. [facility],” Peth said. “This is more fields and although the Little League World Series is on TV and stuff like that, it doesn’t really matter. There is more com-petition at Cooperstown, N.Y.”
“And at Cooperstown it’s not like your town team. It is more like all-select, like tryouts that you have to get that far,” Huseboe said.
There were two teams that represented Wisconsin — one with players just from Wisconsin and the other with players from all over the United States who just wore “Wisconsin” on their jerseys.
Huseboe and Peth’s team — the one with players just from Wisconsin — lost in the Sweet 16, while the other team took second.
by Jonathan [email protected]
Entering last week Saturday’s sectional competition, a lot of things needed to go right for the Ripon High School boys’ cross country team to qualify for state.
A difficult course and an unex-pected change in the course’s layout did not do it any favors.
The Tiger boys finished seventh out of 14 schools at the Cedar Grove Division 2 Sectional — well off the mark needed to move on.
Only the top two teams and top five runners who are not on qualify-ing teams advance to the state meet.
Winneconne and Waupun were the two teams to punch their tickets.
“It was by far the most chal-lenging course we’ve ever run,” Ripon head coach Chris Gatzke said. “There wasn’t a flat part on the course ... We were hoping to put five in the top 25, but we had a couple off races and a couple other teams just ran considerably better and stood up to the challenge.”
The girls, meanwhile, placed 11th out of 13 teams. They were
just a point behind 10th-place Oostburg.
It was an improvement from a last-place finish a week earlier at the Eastern Valley Conference meet.
Cedar Grove-Belgium and Win-neconne advanced on the girls’ side.
“Our girls were extremely hap-py,” Gatzke said. “We were hoping that we weren’t going to finish in last place. When we read the results on the bus on the way home, you would have thought we won the meet. We were really excited. We set out to do something and we did
really well.”While the girls’ team improved
its finishing position, it did not bet-ter its times on the tough course.
The same was true with the boys.
See STRUGGLE/ page 30 See FALLS/ page 23
See BATTLE/ page 23
Tiger harriers struggle at hilly courseRipon boys
finish seventh, girls 11th at
sectional meet
Cooperstown provides fields of memories for Ripon youth
See MEMORIES/ page 30
RC football team falls to undefeated
Carroll
BRICE PETH, LEFT, and Max Huseboe sit on the wall of one of the 21 diamonds at Cooperstown Dreams Park. They were members of the Wisconsin All-Stars team. Shannon Peth photo
AUBREY SCHOFF, LEFT, and Sarah Rodman, right, lead a group of runners down a slope last week Saturday at the Cedar Grove Division 2 Sectional. Sheri Schmidt photo
Thursday, October 30, 2014 - Page 23
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“I think it hasn’t hit me yet, but it will — much
like when I went back to com-pete against St. Norbert.”
Ryan Kaneon his return to UWGB
SportsFALLS/Five-game losing streak is Ripon’s longest since 1986; will try to snap it Saturday continued from page 21
good things. “But we just didn’t do it enough
... So that is something that we have to keep working on.”
The Pioneers, who are ranked No. 24 in the most recent Ameri-can Football Coaches Association Top-25 Poll, flexed their muscles over the Red Hawks right away.
They took the opening drive 57 yards on five plays, capped off by a 19-yard touchdown pass, and added three more touchdown passes in the half to take a 28-0 advantage into the locker room.
According to Ernst, the first-half struggles were a result of Carroll playing well and Ripon not executing as well as it could.
“It was probably a combination of both,” Ernst said. “We didn’t seem to catch many breaks in the first half and, in any game, you have got to catch some breaks ... Of course, you have got to make your own breaks, which we didn’t do.”
The second half started off promising for the Hawks, but once again they couldn’t catch a break.
They drove the ball 64 yards on five plays on their opening posses-sion — highlighted by a Connor Greenwald 40-yard run — before fumbling deep in Carroll territory.
On the next play, the Pioneers broke off an 87-yard touchdown run.
“That’s what I am talking about,” Ernst said of not being able to catch a break. “Fumbling after you make a long drive and then you give up a long run. A se-ries of events that just really works against you.
“We have to work harder not to let those things happen. It’s not like we are calling fumble plays or we’re calling plays like, ‘Hey,
here’s a seam. Go run for 87 yards.’ It is just a matter of making plays.”
Carroll added another touch-down on a 56-yard run a couple minutes later to make it 41-0.
Despite the lopsided score, Ri-pon didn’t stop trying as it scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, sandwiched around a Carroll kickoff return for a score.
Nathan Kuehl and Stephen Co-valt both recorded rushing scores for the Red Hawks — from one- and three-yards out, respectively.
The 14 points mark the second-highest point total that the Pio-neers have given up all year.
Monmouth scored 27 points in a 32-27 loss in late September.
“I think it shows our kids still have a lot of fight in them and that’s good to see,” Ernst said of the late touchdowns. “We’re going to keep
battling and we’re going to keep coaching right to the very end; that’s what we’ve taught our kids and that’s what they are going to do and that’s what the expectation is.”
Ripon was out-gained by Carroll in total offensive yards 471 to 297.
The Pioneers had 72 more yards rushing (369) than the Red Hawks had rushing and passing combined.
Greenwald led Ripon in rush-ing with 65 yards on six carries, while Eric Hussin and Covalt chipped in with 55 and 44 yards.
Covalt was 9-of-17 passing for 97 yards with two interceptions.
Tom Sawyer caught six of those passes for a team-high 94 yards.
RIPON WILL TRY TO GET BACK ON WINNING TRACK SATURDAY
The Red Hawks will try to break a five-game losing streak —
which is their longest since 1986 — Saturday, when they travel to Beloit to face the Buccaneers.
They have a good chance to accomplish that as well as they have finished a stretch of playing the top teams in the conference.
Beloit enters the game as the only other team in the North Di-vision, besides Ripon, without a conference win. It is 2-5 overall.
“We have done nothing this year to strike the fear into any-body,” Ernst said. “So we can’t go into this game thinking that this is a ‘lock-up’ game, because it certainly isn’t. Beloit, certainly, is a team that has weapons. They have a lot of weapons that if we don’t take care of that and do what we need to do ... [we could lose].”
If the Red Hawks are able to take care of business Saturday,
team again, so I’m also excited to see what some of the fresher faces do when the lights come on in that environment and see if they can handle the moment.”
Given the youth, and the fact Ripon is facing a Division I team, Kane is not worrying too much about coming out victorious.
Fifteen of the Hawks’ 18 play-ers are freshmen or sophomores.
“I think the biggest thing you’re looking for in a game like this is for them just to compete, to not back down, to try and execute what we are trying to put in offensively and defensively to this point of the season ... and have fun,” Kane said.
The head coach added his team
may be less worried about strategy when playing a Division I school, and more focused on playing well.
The Red Hawks figure to be led by sophomore Ty Sabin, who earned Midwest Region Rookie of the Year honors last year after averaging 19.6 points per game.
They also will lean heavily on Kyle Loughrin. The senior was second on the team in scoring (16.9 ppg) and assists (68) last year, while ranking first in steals (36).
Behind those two players and several other key contributors, Ripon finished 15-9 last season, 12-6 in the Midwest Conference, and made the conference tourna-ment for the second-consecutive
year.The Phoenix, meanwhile, are
coming off one of their best seasons in recent memory. They posted a record of 24-7, 14-2 in the Hori-zon League, and earned a share of the conference title.
Their sea-son came to an end in the National Invi-tational Tour-nament (NIT) with a loss to Belmont.
It marks just the seventh time since UWGB moved up to Division I in 1982 that
it qualified for the NIT or NCAA tournaments.
“I think their expectations are to compete for a championship and I am sure that the coaches in that league will pick them somewhere in
the top three with the talent that they have,” Kane said. “Keifer Sykes is probably the best player in the Ho-rizon League this year. Brian has done a great job there as far as get-ting an influx of
talent in there. He’s got versatile players who are quick and athletic,
which in previous years what you would find with UWGB is probably more skilled players.”
Figuring to lead the way for the Phoenix is Sykes, who is the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year and was picked to win that honor again this season.
He averaged 20.3 points per game last year, while dishing out 4.9 assists per game and pulling down 4.4 rebounds per game.
The 6-foot senior also already received national attention this year after he dunked over a 6-foot, 9-inch teammate in practice. It was No. 3 on Sportscenter’s Top 10.
“He is a highlight-reel type of player, so it will be a nice chal-
lenge for our guys,” Kane said.Regardless of how well the Red
Hawks can cover Sykes or hang with the Phoenix, Kane is just excited about the opportunity for his players and himself — even if it doesn’t feel real to him yet.
“I think it hasn’t hit me yet, but it will — much like when I went back to compete against St. Norbert,” said Kane, the former UWGB ball boy who played for the Green Knights from 1995 to 1999.
The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Resch Center.
Tickets are available at Ticket-taronline.com or can be purchased in person at the Resch Center.
BATTLE/Young Red Hawk team will have hands full with an experienced UWGB squad continued from page 21
Ernst noted he likes his team’s chances of ending the season 4-6.
This year will mark the first time in 21 seasons that Ripon does not finish with at least a .500 record.
“I told our team Sunday that we have an opportunity to finish with three games and if we can win all three, that would be a tremendous springboard for 2015 and it would send our seniors off on a really
positive note,” Ernst said. “So there is an awful lot to play for. Would 4-6 be the record that I thought we would have this year? No, it really isn’t. But it is what it is and like I’ve told our kids, it’s about dealing with adversity.”
The road game against Beloit is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. and can be seen live at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.
LOGAN WILL SHOWS that he has the ball after intercepting a pass, inset, in the third quarter of Ripon’s 48-14 home loss to Carroll last week Saturday. Jonathan Bailey photos
TOM SAWYER GOES up for a ball with a Carroll defender late in the fourth quarter. The pass was intercepted. Jonathan Bailey photo
Thursday, August 20, 2015 - Page 19
2015 Season Preview
RiponPress.com Sports Poll
Last week’s sports ques-tion on RiponPress.com asked readers if they thought the change in conference would help Ripon High School be more competitive.
Here are the results:‰ Yes, teams are more on the Tigers level 38%‰ No, the new conference will be just as tough 50% ‰ Undecided; ask me af-ter this school year 13%
This week’s question: How many games will the Ripon High School football team win in 2015? ‰ 8 or more ‰ 6 or 7 ‰ 4 or 5 ‰ 2 or 3 ‰ 0 or 1 To vote, log on to www.riponpress.com and click on Sports. The poll is located on the right side of the page. Poll results will be published in the following week’s Commonwealth.
Ronell Hubanks
RIPON
RECAP
The new Ripon High School head football coach enters the season not fo-cused on wins and losses, but team growth, develop-ment and discipline.
He comes to Ripon after coaching eight years with several different high schools, including Menasha, Oshkosh West and Omro.
Hubanks also served as the head coach of the Oshkosh semi-professional football team for two years.
His experience playing the game is vast as he com-peted at a high level in high school and college as an offensive lineman and even tried out for the National Football League.
BY THE
NUMBERS7
The number of coaches who are in their first year with the Ripon High School football team.
Among them are head coach Ronell Hubanks, of-fensive coordinator Logan Za-grodnik, defensive backs coach Mark Bradley, running backs coach Chris Kropp, defensive lineman coach Alex Remer, special teams coach Reggie Baker and freshman offensive coordinator Jordan Sanchez.
For more on the coaches, see the graphic on page 26.
INSIDE
SPORTS‰ Practice begins for cross country, volleyball and boys’ soccer teams see page 20
Sports
LOCAL
SPOTLIGHT
‰ RC football team picked to finish fourth in preseason coaches’ poll see page 20
‰ Red Hawk women’s soccer team finishes third in preseason poll see page 20
‰ Diverse Options mid-week golf outing will take place Aug. 26 see page 20
by Lee Prellwitz
For the third time in 12 years (2004, 2010 and 2015) the PGA Championship was held at Whis-tling Straits golf course, several miles north of Sheboygan on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The 72 holes of golf over four days to determine a PGA cham-pion from 136 of the top profes-sional golfers in the world, plus 20 club professionals, with up to 200,00 fans in attendance during tournament week, is a logistical marvel.
The course was closed to play Aug. 1, and was reopened Tues-day Aug. 18, just two days after the conclusion of the tournament.
Many volunteers are required in a number of areas to make the tournament run smoothly.
Not only did many Ripon resi-dents attend the PGA, but other Riponites served as volunteers in different positions. My apologies in advance to those volunteers whom I do not name.
This year, the PGA of America banned photo-taking during the four rounds of the tournament.
The PGA actively recruited members of law enforcement to serve as members of the Mobile Device Enforcement squad. They wore green vests over their blue striped PGA shirts that identified their responsibility.
They were present at the tee box when the group they were assigned to teed off, to assure no photographs were taken. They then hustled to the landing area of the tee shots to perform the same duty when approach shots were hit, and finally hurried to the green to make sure no photos were taken while the players were putting. That routine is repeated for 18 holes.
Ripon Police Department offi-cers Lindsey Michels, Tim Gren-
by Jonathan [email protected]
Tennis balls weren’t all that was flying in the air through the first week of practice for the Ripon High School girls’ tennis team.
Also bouncing around have been a sense of optimism and energy.
“I think that the g i r l s a re excited about doing well,” Ri-pon co-head coach Ann Brumley said. “Many of them worked hard over the summer to enhance their skills at the game. There seems to be an air of excitement about the team and it’s contagious.”
The positivity during practice is a result of the Tigers returning a strong core of upperclassmen.
All but two players from the team’s projected starting lineup are either juniors or seniors. One freshman and one sophomore also are in the mix.
The singles lineup to begin the season will feature junior Maggie Raddatz (No. 1 position), junior Emily Goyette (No. 2), junior Ra-chel Peppler (No. 3) and freshman Dayton Coehoorn (No. 4).
The doubles makeup, mean-while, will consist of the No. 1
team of senior Lauren Cook and junior Kait-lyn Scoville, the No. 2 doubles duo of senior Shannon Kan-
nenberg and junior Nicole Magin, and the No. 3 tandem of junior Danielle Prellwitz and sophomore Alyssa Schmuhl.
While Ripon is experienced across the board, the junior class has stood out in particular to fel-low Ripon co-head coach Becki Baird.
“We have a great group of ju-niors that have shown consistent dedication to refining their games
Friday, Aug. 21vs. Columbus – 7 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 28@ Kiel – 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 4@ Winneconne – 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 11@ Campbellsport – 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 18 Kewaskum – 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 25@ Plymouth – 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 2 vs. Waupun – 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 9 @ Berlin – 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 16vs. KML — 7 p.m.
Ripon tennis team enters season with
excitement, experience
Ripon volunteers experience firsthand PGA Championship
ier and retired Capt. Chris Stieber all performed this function.
Lindsey was ready to confis-cate a camera from a woman, until the woman showed a press pass that allowed her to carry the camera.
The next day the PGA official walking with the group informed Lindsey that the person she at-tempted to confiscate the camera from was Paulina Gretsky, Dustin Johnson’s fiancée.
Chris Stieber experienced Johnson’s sense of humor. Chris was following Johnson and his caddy as they climbed up a steep incline from the tee on hole 10 to the fairway, when Johnson stopped and asked his caddy for
his sand wedge. The caddy had to stop, set the
golf bag down and give Johnson the sand wedge. Johnson took the club and began running up the hill. His caddy turned around and said to Chris, “He always does this to me.”
Johnson’s caddy is his brother, Austin.
Riponites Tracy O’Brien, Curt and Denise Martinez, and oth-ers served as marshals, usually assigned to a specific hole and working a four-hour shift for two or more days.
They paid $200 to serve as a marshal, for which they received
Tigers seek to turn fortunes around with team-first approach by Jonathan Bailey
Ronell Hubanks is not ready to set any lofty goals for the Ripon High School Tiger football team.
Taking over a team that is a combined 6-30 in the last four years, the new head coach instead is focused on a more basic goal.
“I believe as long as we con-tinue to grow and come together as a team, everything will fall into place,” said Hubanks, who is taking over for Mike Yoder. “[Turning around the program is] not going to be overnight. It takes a lot of what I call ‘sweat equity:’ embracing the opportunity we have together to achieve small goals and our No. 1 goal is to be
a team first. So once we achieve that goal, then success will come with that.”
So far through summer prac-tices and the first two weeks of practice, his players have em-
braced the goal set out for them.What has stood out to him,
Hubanks explained, is “their dedi-cation to hard work. With them being so young and having such a good support group, they have
been able to come together and really work hard together.”
Players also have similar goals as their coach entering
STARTING QUARTERBACK AUSTEN Nissen tries to find the corner during a scrimmage against Chilton last week Friday at Howards Grove. Nissen, a senior, became the main quarterback after Jack Kinziger was injured earlier in the scrimmage. Sara Splittgaber photo
2015 Season Preview
It’s all about the team
HOMECOMING
See ENTERS/ page 22
See EXPERIENCE/ page 21
See FORTUNES/ page 26
A SCREEN SHOT shows Riponite Chris Stieber, right, along with other volunteers, waiting for their group to arrive from the 10th green during the PGA Championship last week at Whistling Straits.
NICOLE MAGIN STRETCHES out to return a shot as co-head coaches Ann Brumley, left, and Becki Baird watch some of her other teammates in the background. Jonathan Bailey photo
Page 26 - Thursday, August 20, 2015
Sports
IT’SCOMING…
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FORTUNES/Ripon changes offensive and defensive philosophies and game plans continued from page 19
Ripon Tiger football
Ripon (0-0) vs. Columbus (0-0)
Friday, 7 p.m.
Facts: Ripon kicks off its season Friday, when it hosts Columbus in a non-conference game at Ingalls Field. The Tigers, who have a new head coach this year in Ronell Hubanks, are coming off a 1-8 season, while the Cardinals were 7-3 — losing in the first round of the WIAA Playoffs 22-17 to Spencer/Columbus Catholic. Ripon is a part of the East Central Conference and Columbus is a member of the Capitol North. The Cardinals won the last meeting between the teams, which took place in 1994, 21-0 and have been victorious in the last eight meetings against the Tigers dating back to 1987.Keys: According to Hubanks, the Tigers will have to execute and show discipline on both sides of the ball if they hope to have a chance at defeating Columbus. “If we execute on offense and our offensive line blocks like they are supposed to, we will be able to get positive yards. If our defense stays disciplined against the misdirection, it’s going to help us.” Hubanks noted Columbus has strong offensive and defensive lines, anchored by a Division I recruit, as well as a talented quarterback and one of the top receivers in the state.
the season. “Be successful as a team and
I guess hopefully make the play-offs, of course,” senior Austen Nissen said of his goals. “I am sure that is our ultimate goal, but hopefully just play together and know every time we leave the field we put 100 percent in and hopefully it’s a win every time.”
Fellow senior Brett Peth added he wants the Tigers to “grow as a team and get ready for next year; help the program rebuild.”
OFFENSEThe Tigers already have been
faced with adversity. They lost starting quarterback
Jack Kinziger to an upper-arm fracture during Ripon’s scrim-mage at Howards Grove last week Friday when he was slammed on his left shoulder by a Chilton defensive lineman.
According to Hubanks, quarter-backs were suppose to be off limits in terms of contact and tackling.
Luckily for Ripon, it has a ca-pable backup in Nissen, who had been taking snaps in practice.
The senior has played running back the last couple of seasons.
“Our quarterback situation was a 1-A, 1-B; they both were going to play,” Hubanks said. “Austen is more of an athlete where Jack is more of a true quarterback. So Austen will be under center to start the season off. It will be nice to have senior leadership at that position.”
Nissen is ready to accept the challenge of being a leader.
“Setting the tone and showing everyone else how we’re suppose to act and how we’re suppose to practice hard is really going to help determine how we do for the rest of the season,” Nissen said. “So setting the tone is definitely the main thing I will have to do.”
Nissen and the rest of the of-fense have had to learn a different system under a new head coach.
“This year is going to be more of an up-tempo power style,” Hubanks said. “We’re going to play fast. We’re going to play ag-gressive. I’m an aggressive play-caller along with Logan Zagrodnik. You’re going to see a mixture of run/pass — a lot of play action. Some read option, not too much.”
He added the game will dictate how the Tigers play and whether they are more run or pass heavy.
Ripon will have plenty of weapons on offense as it returns a majority of its play-makers from last season.
Among them are junior Hunter Merrill, who showed his versatil-ity last year as both a running back and receiver; juniors Marcel Hones and Jordan Finley, who provided explosiveness out of the backfield; and junior wide receiv-ers J.J. Zack and Andrew Radloff.
The Tigers also welcome back Luke Loewe, who ran cross coun-try last year after suffering a hand injury playing summer basketball.
Loewe is a member of the junior class that went undefeated as freshmen two years ago and is listed as a wide receiver/athlete on the team’s MaxPreps page.
In addition to several of the play-makers, Ripon also returns a good portion of its offensive line.
“I think we’re pretty strong in that so far,” Nissen said. “We have a lot of experience in them playing for varsity, since most of them started last year. It’s nice that we have a lot of bigger kids that know what they’re doing.”
DEFENSE
Defensively, Ripon also brings back several players from a season ago, but needs to show improve-ment coming off a year in which it gave up 353 points in nine games — an average of 39 points per contest.
That’s the most points it has al-lowed in more than 15 years.
Hubanks hopes to turn around the defense’s fortune by adjusting the system and tackling technique.
“You’re going to see a simpli-fied defense that allows the kids to play fast and be more aggressive,” the new coach said. “We adopted the ‘Seahawk’ tackling. We’ve been practicing and repping that and it showed [last week] Friday.”
He added that “Seahawk” tackling is a “shoulder-leverage rubgy-style tackle that takes the head out of tackling” and it is de-signed to reduce the possibilities for concussions and head injuries.
Ripon also will move around some players from last season.
One of them is Peth, who is shifting from defensive lineman to linebacker this season.
“It’s different. That’s for sure,” Peth said of the position change. “You have got to read stuff differ-ently and play a different style, but as a whole, it’s still football.”
Among the other starters return-ing for the defense this season are Cody Jacobson, Brady Kuphal, Joe Sharp, Austin Rechek, Shawn Timm, Merrill, Nissen and Finley.
STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES AND CONFERENCE OUTLOOK
While the Tigers bring back several players from a year ago, they still are relatively young.
The team consists of only eight seniors, to go along with a large junior class and a little smaller sophomore group. There also are 17 to 18 freshman, but they will play primarily on the freshman team.
“Our biggest weakness, I will say, is our age,” Hubanks said. “Being a very young team, we’ll run into some senior-laden teams that have a little bit more experi-ence together.”
Even though Hubanks views the youth as a weakness, he also sees it as a positive.
“Our strength is we have a very talented young group and they embrace the opportunity to work hard,” he said.
He also is pleased with how well the players have adapted to the coaching changes. Not only is Hubanks new, but the majority of his staff is new to the team as well.
“The kids have adapted because they want to be taught,” Hubanks said. “They want to learn and they
want to work hard. And the harder we push them, the more knowl-edge that we can give them, the more respect that we gain.”
“It’s a lot smoother than I ex-pected,” Peth added of the coach-ing change. “I thought it would be more rocky, like the change of tactics between coaches would be a lot different. But I think the main thing between the two most recent head coaches is the discipline aspect of it and the at-tention to detail and just keeping it simple so you can understand. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
The changes will be put to the test in a new conference this year as the Tigers move from the Eastern Valley to the East Central.
Gone are Clintonville, Fox Val-ley Lutheran, Xavier, Freedom, Waupaca and Little Chute.
Entering the picture are Plym-outh, Waupun, Kewaskum, Camp-bellsport and Kettle Moraine Lu-theran.
Ripon will continue to play against Winneconne and Berlin.
Hubanks doesn’t quite now what to expect from the new foes.
“I’m not real sure,” he said. “I’ve coached against Winneconne before. I’ve seen Berlin play. I don’t know much about Plymouth or Kewaskum and those guys. I heard Plymouth is pretty good. Overall, I feel it is going to be a pretty com-petitive conference in general.”
Nissen, who played in the East-
ern Valley Conference the last three years agreed, but noted the East Central might be a bit easier.
“I think the conference will still be tough,” Nissen said. “There’s no given in any conference, but I think it definitely provides a little more help for us to do better in the conference overall in the season.”
Before getting into conference play, the Tigers will open the sea-son with two non-conference foes.
They will host Columbus Fri-
day at Ingalls Field, before travel-ing to Kiel the following Friday.
Win or lose in those games, as well as the rest of the season, Hubanks noted the year will be a success if one thing happens.
“Once we become one team and we achieve our one goal [it will be a successful season],” Hubanks said.
For more on Friday’s game against Columbus, which includes facts about the teams and keys to the game, see the graphic on this page.
Meet the coaching staff
Ronell Hubanks - Head coach
Hubanks takes over for Mike Yoder. He has coached high school and semi-pro football and played at the college level.
Al Schraeder - Asst. coach/Def. coordinator
Schraeder is in his 13th year with the program. He has served in a variety of position, including co-head coach for a couple years.
Logan Zagrodnik - Offensive coordinatorZagrodnik is in his first year
with the program. He recently finished his career at UW-Osh-kosh where he was a tight end.
Jeff Krentz - Linebackers coach
Krentz is in his fifth year with the program. He also is the head coach of the fresh-man team again this season.
Mark Bradley - Defensive backs coachBradley is in his first year with
the team. He is a physical educa-tion teacher at Ripon High School. He previously coached wrestling.
Chris Kropp - Running backs coachKropp is in his first year with
the team after coaching in Ber-lin for a few years. He moved his family to Ripon last year.
Alex Remer - Defensive line coach
Remer is in his first year with the team. He played college football at UW-Oshkosh before incurring a career-ending injury.
Reggie Baker - Special teams coordinator
Baker is in his first year with the team. He coached with Hu-banks for the past four or five years in semi-pro football.
Jordan Sanchez - Freshman Off. coordinator
Sanchez is in his first year with the team. He coached eighth-grade football in Omro and also plays semi-pro ball.
Head coach isn’t the only position with a new person this year as the Ripon High School football team saw its biggest turnover in more than a decade. Here’s who will be coaching the Tigers this year:
JORDAN FINLEY rushes the ball during a scrimmage last week Friday. Watching is running backs coach Chris Kropp. Sara Splittgaber photo
RIPON PLAYERS TEAM up to bring down a Sturgeon Bay ballcarrier. The Tigers have been practicing a new technique of tackling, one that cuts down on concussions. Sara Splittgaber photo
