St. Norbert Holds Off Late Ripon Rally for Homecoming Win

From Sports Information Director, October 18, 2014 | Football
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College held off a last-ditch Ripon College rally to hang on for a 13-10 win in a Midwest Conference North Division game at Schneider Stadium.

The Green Knights (3-3, 1-1 MWC North) won on Homecoming for the 16th straight year and snapped a modest two-game losing streak. Ripon (1-5, 0-2) lost its fourth in a row and fell for the 15th time in the last 16 meetings with St. Norbert.

St. Norbert led 13-3 in the fourth quarter before Ripon got back into the game. The Red Hawks faced a fourth-and-6 from the St. Norbert 39 early in the period, and Decker Thompson took a direct snap out of punt formation and ran 30 yards to the St. Norbert 9. Two plays later Skylar Liebzeit scored from five yards out to cut the deficit to 13-10 with 11:52 remaining.

The Green Knights matched to the Ripon 12, where they had a first down. Quarterback J.T. Crosby lost a fumble at the Red Hawks' 9. Two plays later, Stephen Covalt found Nathan Silloway for a 52-yard pass for a first down at the St. Norbert 30. The Red Hawks had a second-and-5 at the St. Norbert 15, but the Green Knights' Mark Hoeft forced a fumble on the exchange with Jerry Blake recovering at the 16 with 4:12 remaining.

St. Norbert ran eight plays and moved 27 yards to burn 3:37 off the clock before punting. Ripon was able to run four plays from deep in its own end and turned the ball over on downs as time expired.

The Green Knights had a solid first half to lead 13-0 at halftime. Randy Hill kicked a 32-yard field goal early in the first quarter, and added a 31-yard field goal early in the second quarter for a 6-0 lead. St. Norbert then had a 13-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a Zach Broberg 1-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes left prior to intermission.

Ripon, which punted on its first eight possessions, intercepted a Crosby pass and returned it to the St. Norbert 15. Connor Greenwald kicked a 22-yard field goal six plays later for the Red Hawks' first points.

St. Norbert outgained Ripon 384-294 in total offense, the Green Knights' highest offensive output of the season. Crosby rushed 21 times for 111 yards, and completed 10 of 26 passes for 175 yards with two interceptions. Broberg rushed 26 times for 98 yards, as the Green Knights ran for 209 yards on 47 attempts. Brett Olson caught four passes for 45 yards.

Eight different ball carries rushed 42 times for 164 yards for Ripon. Greenwald carried 11 times for a team-high 42 yards. Covalt completed 4 of 15 passes for 83 yards, while Tom Sawyer completed 4 of 8 passes for 47 yards.

Zach Klarkowski led St. Norbert with 12 tackles, while Nate Burchell, Matt Petersilka and Trevor Campbell all had six tackles apiece.