It might have been Gunner Ruppert’s night, but he wanted to make sure he shared it with his teammates.
The junior running back ran for a career-high 334 yards on 31 carries and even threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to lead Greenwood to a 40-27 victory over host Mooresville Friday night in Mid-State Conference football action. Ruppert had TD runs of 70 and 73 yards for the Woodmen (2-2, 1-1).
“Big thanks to my linemen — they were up there working their butts off all night opening up holes for me to be able to burst through,” Ruppert said. “It’s really not me; it was all the guys up there putting in that work, giving me those holes. It’s an all-out team effort.”
Ruppert had to move to quarterback briefly in the third quarter when Ayden Houseman was shaken up. Ruppert mostly ran or handed off out of the shotgun but did connect with Benjamin Hommell for that 68-yard TD.
“I just knew I had to step up and be a leader, which my teammates picked me to be on this team,” Ruppert said. “I just had to come in and take over the game and finish this out. My teammates helped me play my game, and I helped them do their job. I’m super proud of the game.”
Houseman returned during the fourth quarter.
Leading 19-14, the Woodmen scored three unanswered touchdowns to make it 40-14. The Pioneers (1-3, 0-2) closed to the deficit with two touchdowns, the final one being a 67-yard TD pass from Connor Cruz to Tyler Denny with 5:51 left.
Greenwood recovered the onside kick and ran the clock out with some runs for first downs by Ruppert.
After Ruppert’s 70-yard TD run, he had a 68-yard run where he was tackled at the 1-yard line, setting up a 1-yard TD by Houseman. The Woodmen led 12-0 after missing on both conversion attempts, the first one a kick.
Cruz hit Quinten Gunter with a 19-yard TD pass to make it 12-7 late in the first quarter. Houseman’s 20-yard touchdown run pushed Greenwood’s to 19-7, but Mooresville answered when Kaden Bruhn caught a 54-yard scoring pass from Cruz. Those two later hooked up for a 4-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.
Houseman’s 1-yard TD run with 41 seconds left in the first half put the Woodmen up 26-14 at halftime.
‘We hit some key third-down passes (in the first half), which was huge,” Woodmen coach Justin Boser said. “Houseman got banged up a little and Ruppert came in. We’ve repped it and he did a phenomenal job on the quarterback run and handoffs. We were able to hit that little quarterback pass; Benjamin slipped out deep. It’s just about staying ready and being the next man up.”
Boser credited fullback Ajay Weathers for helping lead the way for Ruppert with blocks on the final drive as the Woodmen sealed it.
“(Weathers) will run through a wall for me and we kept running it through the left side,” Boser said.
Boser said the team played a complete game.
“This is the first game we played a full four quarters,” he said. “Everyone was able to stay on the field and fight through any cramps. They kept coming, and we knew they would. They kept taking deep shots and they have a really good quarterback and good receivers. I’m super happy with how our defense played. They gave up some big passes, but overall a big improvement with our defense tonight.”
Cruz threw for 319 yards, but the Pioneers managed just 46 yards rushing.
