Ripon´s new head coach Chris Musseman and the varsity football faced off against Sierra´s new head coach, and former Ripon coach, Chris Johnson and the Timberwolves.  The first game of the season was held at Sierra, and the away section was filled up with Ripon high red and white.

Before the sun went down and varsity came onto the fields, their future successors, the JV team, came onto the field.  The first kickoff happened when the air was still hot and the sun was still shining.

Varsity plays a huge role for these young athletes.

“As a freshman and sophomore, you look forward to playing on varsity because that’s the game people really care about.  Some people come to see JV but most people come for varsity…and it’s a cooler experience than JV,” Nico Illardi, JV quarterback said.

The teammates even motivate each other when it comes to these sophomores.

“Dorian Dougherty [motivates me],” Aidan Nilsson said, “because he’s a sophomore and starts on varsity.”

The future stars of varsity were able to perform, even in the warm weather, stopping a two-point conversion from Sierra.

They were then able to root on for their team once the got off the field.

The student section had a bit of a change in energy.

“Even though it was an away game, we had a lot of spirit and a lot of kids came out to watch,” sophomore Molly Ysit said.

The student section was much livelier, which really affected the atmosphere of the game.  Although it was an away game, there was a lot of hype from the students, which helped the Indians pull a 19-7 win against the Sierra Timberwolves.