Ruggles keeps Cambridge-Salem on track in Whitehall
Whitehall—After suffering their first loss of the season to Holy Trinity, Jacob Ruggles kept the Cambridge-Salem Indians sharp in their 42 point shut out against the Whitehall Railroaders.
“Coming off of that loss to Holy Trinity I think we played respectably both offensively and defensively,” said Coach Doug Luke.
It was off to the races for Cambridge-Salem. After one quarter of play the Indians found themselves with a 14 point lead. The first score came from Kaedin Oglivie, a rushing touchdown from 22 yards out. Oglivie left after the first quarter but finished with three carries for 89 yards. Gabe Sgambettera took most of Oglivie’s carries and had 85 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Oglivie came up big again later in the first quarter. After getting pinned back to the Whitehall end zone, Oglivie worked his way out of the pack and broke away for a 97 yard touchdown.
“The offensive line blocked great today. The running backs did a great job hitting the big holes that the offensive line made. The offensive line did a great job today,” said Ruggles.
Ruggles played with the kind of poise you come to expect from your junior quarterback. In this run centric offense he only had to throw 11 passes downfield, but Ruggles completed 7 of those for the Indians, gaining 71 yards. He showed no fear when rolling out of the pocket and tossing perfect passes downfield. Ruggles’ truest show of skill came in the second quarter when he rolled right out of the pocket and lobbed a pass into the back of the end zone for Soyer Mattison and six more points.
“If we can’t throw the ball people are going to just stack the box and eventually it’s going to be very hard to run the ball,” said Luke. “We’ve got to gradually make him an impact player.”
The Cambridge-Salem defense showed a bend but don’t break mentality throughout Saturday’s contest. Whitehall took some big swings at the Indians’ defensive line resulting in big gains for the likes of Brenden Covey and Brandon Bakerian. Luckily they stepped up when it mattered most, turning the Railroader away every time. The Indians were perfect against fourth down conversion attempts which came many and often at the beginning of the second half. This was Cambridge-Salem’s first shutout of the season.
Luke said, “We had kids step up today. Our linebackers were a couple of different kids today and we’re really happy that they did the job.”
After the loss, Whitehall falls to 3-3 on the season. Cambridge-Salem will try to win their division next week against Granville.
Rugs said, “We just have to keep working hard at practice and come together as a team.”