Behind a fourth quarter, come-from-behind playoff upset few saw coming, the Ruleville Central Tigers football team is moving on to round two of the 3A State Playoffs.
Following last week’s 27-17 road victory over the now 8-3 Kossuth High Aggies, the 5-6 Tigers will serve as the host team when 9-2 Choctaw County High of Ackerman comes to town. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
In their huge victory last week, the Tigers used big plays on offense and special teams, as well as a bend-but-don’t-break defense, to help fuel their playoff opening win.
While quarterback Joseph Perez would toss TD passes covering 74 and 15 yards, freshman Charles Cox turned in a fourth-period 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put the Tigers ahead for good in the game.
Meanwhile, the Choctaw County High Chargers will bring their strong record to Ruleville for this Friday’s playoff contest, the first time since 2010 that Ruleville Central has advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Having entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed from Region 4-3A, the Chargers also won their opening playoff contest last Friday by way of a dominating 44-7 decision over Independence High School.
In this first-ever meeting between these two teams, the Chargers are riding a six game win streak and thus far average scoring 36 points per game while giving up just over 11 points per outing and with two shutouts to their credit.
In last week’s eye-opening upset, the Tigers spotted the Aggies a 2-0 lead after an early game safety.
However, with four minutes left in the first half the Tigers registered their first TD of the game when sophomore quarterback Perez threw the first of his two scoring passes in the game; a 15 yarder to junior Markevean Graham.
That 6-2 Tigers lead did not stand up for long as the Aggies answered with a scoring run within the final minute of the first half of the game.
The late score found the Tigers going to the dressing room at halftime only down by a 9-6 margin.
In the third frame, the Tigers then took their second lead of the night when Perez connected with Fabin Carter for a 74-yard touchdown pass play.
Randarious Maxon followed with the two point conversion run into the end zone and Ruleville owned a 14-9 lead as the game entered the final period of play.
Kossuth would answer, however, as they opened that fourth frame with a two-yard TD run and a two point conversion to go up by a 17-14 score.
That lead was remarkably short-lived as on the ensuing kickoff, Cox gathered in the kick and sprinted 80 yards to paydirt. Jeremiah Surney’s PAT kick then put the Tigers up by a 21-17 margin; a lead they would not give up the remainder of the game.
An insurance TD was ultimately earned later in that fourth quarter by the Tigers when Maxon finished off a drive with his four-yard scoring run to take the score to its final tally.
Ruleville’s Three-Game Win Streak At a Glance
Oct. 20 - Amanda Elzy defeated at the buzzer 29-28
Oct. 27 - Humphreys County falls 43-26
Nov. 3 - Kossuth falls at home to Tigers 27-17
