HATTIESBURG – Tied at 28-28 in the third quarter, senior wide receiver Darius Ruffin scored his second of three touchdowns on a one-on-one matchup, which gave the Hattiesburg Tigers the momentum it needed in the 49-35 win against Picayune.
“We had a hitch and go,” Ruffin said. “I knew if I stood a little bit to get his hips to sink, I could run faster than him. (Hattiesburg quarterback Jarod Conner) kind of put it up for me and I had to grab it. I had to do what I had to do.”
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Ruffin finished the night with six catches for 83 yards and three touchdowns. The senior has been an instrumental weapon for senior quarterback Jarod Conner, who had seven total touchdowns in the shootout win. Conner finished the night 12-for-20, throwing four touchdowns while recording 163 yards, and he also ran for 18 carries on 181 yards and three touchdowns.
“That’s my boy,” Ruffin said. “We just gel. We have that connection. You may notice that we run the ball a lot, but when we do throw it, we’re on point.”
Ruffin also had touchdown catches from 2 yards and 35 yards out, and he leads the team with 855 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on the season.
“He came up big for us,” Hattiesburg head coach Tony Vance said. “We just know if we get him the ball he’s going to make plays for us. We’re blessed to have him on our team. He makes play calling a lot easier, knowing that you have a guy that will make plays for you and you can call his number.”
Ruffin’s 21-yard touchdown catch gave Hattiesburg the 35-28 lead and it was critical for shifting the momentum leading up to the onside kick that eventually sealed the win for Hattiesburg.
“We just saw the opportunity to steal a couple of possessions,” Vance said. “We’re not going to be afraid to kick onside a couple of times because we feel like we have players that were able to recover it. We feel like we had a kicker that could lay the kick where it needed to be. Just something we saw on film. We weren’t going to go into the locker room with something in our pocket. Not in a game like this.”
Defensively Hattiesburg struggled to stop the Picayune offense, as Maroon Tide running back Jortin Raine rushed for 202 yards and a touchdown. The back-and-forth battle made it imperative for Hattiesburg’s offense to continue to click on all cylinders, especially for the Tigers’ passing game, which was the deciding factor in the win. The Tigers were able to score on every drive except the final drive of the game, because Hattiesburg used the victory formation.
“I don’t get too bogged down in my accolades,” Ruffin said. “I just do whatever I can to help the team. I come to practice and work hard just like all of my receivers. In pregame, we preach that ‘it could be your night and you just have to be ready.’ And when that time comes you have to take advantage of it. That’s what we’re about. We’re a very selfless team. We work for each other so it’s not really [about] accolades.”
