FREDERICKTOWN — No one in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference carries the ball quite like Teegan Ruhl.
The Fredericktown senior is the league’s leading rusher, averaging 8.3 yards per carry through the first half of the season.
He has all the physical characteristics of a phenom. He’s long, strong and athletic, listed at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds. He has the speed to beat tacklers to the edge and the strength to punish them once he gets there.
But it’s the way he runs that sets him apart. Ruhl carries the ball like a mongoose on the hunt – intelligent and patient, yet explosive and deadly. He is willing to wait for plays to develop, and once they do, he takes advantage, bursting into the second level and seeking out contact.
Ruhl is often the hammer, not the nail, and it takes more than one defender to bring him down (in the case of Friday night’s game versus Northmor, four or five were sometimes required). He keeps his legs churning, his arms pumping, and he always falls forward. He is a relentless competitor, willing to outwork and outlast his opponents over the course of a four-quarter game.
And he does it all behind one of the area’s top offensive lines, an experienced and physical bunch that has earned its right to dominance. The Freddies’ wrecking crew features three multi-year starters – senior Lucas Herbst at right tackle, senior Braden Sapp at left tackle, and junior Cameron Koelbl at center – as well as two newcomers, senior Jaxen Doup at left guard and sophomore Blake Tucker at right guard.
“The relationship between the offensive line and Teegan is really solid. The offensive line … three of the five are returners from last year, and then you’ve got a senior and a sophomore, who are the new guys. So they’re doing a good job, they know their assignment and they’re consistent with their assignment,” Fredericktown head coach Will Hartley said.
“And then you’ve got a really solid back behind them. Teegan’s just got really good vision. He gets behind that initial surge and then he does a really good job, when gets into the second level, of extending runs. So it’s a good combination.
“We’re getting that good initial movement, and then Teegan’s got really good vision and he’s able to get a lot of yards after contact. He’s very dependable and he’s really worked on his strength, so he’s pretty rugged this year as well.”
Ruhl has worked his way to this point. He carried the ball 32 times for 166 yards his freshman year, then 61 times for 323 yards his sophomore year. Last year, as a junior, he broke out, carrying the ball 157 times for 993 yards and earning all-Ohio honors.
But this year, the senior has taken his game to another level. He’s had games of 187, 198, 198, 87 and 195 yards, anchoring a Fredericktown offensive attack that is much improved from seasons prior.
And on Friday night, in front of a packed home stadium, Ruhl did it again. He rushed for 144 yards in a physical, hard-fought, 22-15 victory over Northmor.
The senior reached a new milestone in the process. He surpassed the season 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career, finishing at 1,009 after a monster fourth quarter that put the Golden Knights away for good.
Afterwards, Ruhl gave all the credit to his boys up front.
“It’s our linemen, really,” the tailback said with a smile, sweat dripping from his hair in the moments after the win.
“They’ve been just telling me every time, ‘Good run. Keep going, kid.’ So I’m doing it for them and they’re doing it for me. It’s just a loving relationship.”
Ruhl said Friday’s win was personal, as Fredericktown (4-2, 2-1) lost twice to Northmor (4-2, 1-2) last season – once in the regular season and once in the postseason. The Freddies came in seeking revenge, and they got it.
“We really just wanted to win. The line was really pushing,” Ruhl said. “Especially after last season, losing to them two times in one season, it’s rough. We really just wanted to come out and put them away.”
The win propelled the Freddies to their best start since 2015 – the last time they won a conference championship. They are one game back from Centerburg and Danville in the KMAC title race, and are tied with upstart Mount Gilead for second place.
One month of regular season football remains. And while the Freddies still have work to do, and will need outside help to get back to the front of the pack, Friday’s win keeps them in contention for the conference title.
At this point, Hartley said, that’s all you can ask for.
“It’s a big one,” the sixth-year head coach said. “I mean, this is one that the kids really wanted. We’ve come up short a couple times in some big rivalry games this year, against Highland in game one and then Danville in game four.
“So to get Northmor, a team that we’ve struggled against here in recent years, and they beat us twice last year – once in the regular season and then once in a rematch in the playoffs – that was a special win for the kids, and it was definitely one that the kids had in the back of their mind that they wanted to get.
“We’re also still undefeated on the home field, too, so the kids take a lot of pride in that as well.”
THE GAME: Friday night began as a defensive struggle.
So much so that the halftime score more resembled a baseball game than a football game.
The Freddies led 2-0 at intermission, scoring once on a safety midway through the second quarter. Northmor lined up to punt deep in its own territory, but the snap went over freshman Carson Campbell’s head and through the back of the end zone, giving the Freddies a two-point advantage with 6:46 left until the break.
Fredericktown drove the ball deep into Northmor territory twice in the first half, but both possessions resulted in turnovers.
Campbell picked off a Fredericktown pass to the end zone midway through the first quarter, the Freddies having advanced to the 18-yard-line, and Northmor sophomore Ashton Clark recovered a fumbled handoff at the 24-yard-line late in the second quarter.
Both sequences killed potential scoring drives, Hartley noted, and kept Northmor in it after a brutal first half offensively.
“We had just made so many mistakes. We had two turnovers, right? An interception and a fumble. We had three times where we were in really good field position on their side of the 50 – and we got the safety, which was good, a big momentum play, but heck, we should’ve had two touchdowns,” Hartley said.
“So the message (at halftime) was that we had left a lot of points on the field, don’t be satisfied. But then the other thing was, looking back to the Danville game, where we started turning the ball over in the second half, we kind of said, ‘Hey, we’re up 2-0. We’ve got the gremlins out of the system. Let’s go out there in the second half and have a clean half and get this thing done.'”
Fredericktown came out of the halftime locker room on a mission.
After an interception from senior Logan Small on the second play from scrimmage, Fredericktown wasted little time lighting up the scoreboard. Senior quarterback Ben Mast reared back and tossed a 51-yard touchdown bomb to junior wideout Grant Hartley, who was streaking down the sideline after beating his defender off the ball.
The pass resembled a rainbow, dropping gently in Hartley’s outstretched arms as the wideout sprinted toward paydirt. He had no one to beat when he caught the ball at the 20-yard-line, and he glided into the end zone while the home crowd roared.
A point-after kick put Fredericktown up 9-0 with 9:45 to play in the third quarter.
Northmor advanced into Fredericktown territory on its next drive, but two sacks killed the potential scoring opportunity. Senior linebacker Mason Hoeflich brought down Northmor sophomore quarterback A.J. Bower on first down, then senior defensive end Xavier Mullins did the same on third down, forcing the visitors to punt.
And Northmor’s special teams issues continued. Fredericktown senior Billy Woodring broke through the line and blocked Campbell’s kick, causing it to roll out of bounds at the Golden Knight 26-yard-line.
The Fredericktown offense would take advantage of the opportunity.
Four straight runs from Ruhl moved the ball to the 6-yard-line, and a penalty on a Hoeflich carry moved it to the 5. Ruhl scored on the next play from scrimmage, racing up the left side and beating Northmor’s defenders to the pylon, giving Fredericktown a 15-0 lead with 4:18 left in the period (the extra point missed).
Northmor began to figure things out offensively late in the third quarter.
Bower led the visitors on a 14-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the final period. Sophomore Bo Landin skied to catch a jump ball near the goal line, wrestling the ball away from a Fredericktown defender in mid-air and putting the Knights on the board.
An extra point narrowed the margin to 15-7 with 11:52 remaining.
Campbell picked off another Fredericktown pass on the next possession, but the Golden Knights could not capitalize offensively. They were forced to punt, and issues arose once again.
The snap went high, over Campbell’s head, and while the freshman was able to recover it and run, he only made it to the 22-yard-line before being swarmed by Fredericktown tacklers.
The Freddies took advantage of favorable field positioning once again on their next possession.
Four runs and a reception from Ruhl moved the ball to the 1-yard-line, and senior wideout Kaid Carpenter did the rest, taking a direct snap and diving into the end zone to give Fredericktown a 22-7 lead with 4:32 remaining.
“We made too many mistakes. We were too sloppy on special teams,” Northmor head coach Scott Armrose said afterwards. “When your offense is slow and you want to win football games by playing tough defense, you can’t turn the ball over and make mistakes on special teams like we did tonight.”
The Golden Knights didn’t quit. Bower led the visitors back down the field, marching 68 yards on 11 plays and scoring on a five-yard touchdown strike to junior Griffin Healea on fourth down.
Bower hit sophomore Carter Mull in the end zone for the two-point conversion, narrowing the deficit to 22-15 with 1:37 remaining.
But Mast recovered the ensuing onside kick, falling on the ball near midfield, and that was that. The Freddies moved the chains on back-to-back carries from Ruhl, and the clock ran out from there.
Fredericktown moved to 3-0 on its home turf with the wire-to-wire win.
“This is a big win for us, obviously with losing twice (to Northmor last year), keeping us undefeated at home going into the second half of the season,” Ruhl said. “It’s just a big win for us. It gives us a lot of momentum.”
THE KEYS: Fredericktown won the battle up front on both sides of the ball Friday.
The Freddies were able to run the ball with ease, racking up 184 ground yards between Ruhl, Hoeflich and Carpenter. And defensively, Fredericktown’s front-seven terrorized Bower, sacking the sophomore quarterback five times and pressuring him many more.
It took the Knights three quarters to develop a rhythm offensively, given the heat Bower & Co. faced nearly every play.
“We couldn’t control the line of scrimmage. It’s the same thing that happened last week. We’re just not there yet. We’re not to the point where we’re gonna be able to control the line of scrimmage and run the football, and as the offensive coordinator, that’s my fault. That’s something I have to fix,” Armrose said.
“So we have to keep working. We can throw the ball, but we’ve got a sophomore quarterback throwing to a bunch of sophomores, and that’s not gonna be a recipe for success, especially in the KMAC. So we’ve gotta get that running game going. That’s what happened in the first half, we just couldn’t get that running game going.”
Northmor’s offense proved tricky to plan for, Hartley said, but his team got the job done when it mattered.
“It was tough because they could get their tight end in there and their two backs and they could run the ball off-tackles. They were running a lot of ice and buck, which is their bread and butter. But then they would get in the empty set and would be throwing the ball all over the place,” Hartley said.
“So we were trying to match personnel with them as much as we could. It got a little hectic there in the second half and they started to get some momentum in their passing game. We got a lot of pressure in the third quarter, and then for some reason, we weren’t getting that same type of pressure in the fourth quarter and they were able to hurt us there and get some scores.
“But the kids – we really didn’t give up anything big, so all of those drives were taking a lot of time, and it came down to that onside kick and fortunately, we were able to get it.”
Fredericktown was also able to win the special teams battle. The Freddies were able to bait Northmor into miscues and capitalize offensively once favorable field position was acquired.
“We had told them all week, we really felt this was gonna be a four-quarter battle, and it was,” Hartley said. Just keep doing your job consistently, and you’ve just gotta roll with the punches.
“If they have some success, which they’re going to, you can’t get down or dejected. It’s gotta be next-play mentality, or next man up, and look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I’m gonna be the kid that makes the play.’ And we did that enough to get the win.”
Ruhl said that even when things looked bleak Friday – following turnovers deep in Northmor territory, for example – his Freddies remained positive. The senior-laden bunch continued to communicate and work together, and it paid off in the end.
“We went into halftime and we were a little bit down. You know, things weren’t going our way. But we came together as a team and we just pulled it out,” Ruhl said. “We just kept talking and kept getting back up.”
Ruhl served once again as Fredericktown’s offensive engine, racking up 161 of the team’s 250 total yards. Armrose said the senior and his counterparts were simply too much for the young Knights to handle.
“He’s quick. He’s got really good vision. And they’re so big and physical up front. They’ve done a really nice job of opening up holes. Their fullback (Hoeflich) blocked really well tonight, too. He did a really nice job of getting our linebackers on iso and kicking out our ends on power,” Armrose said.
“They’re a well-coached team, Coach Hartley does a good job with those guys, and when you’ve got speed like Ruhl and you’ve got size up front, they’re a really tough team to stop.”
Late in the second half, when Northmor’s defense began to wear down, Ruhl imposed his will. The senior credited his line, once again, for his ability to continue pounding down the stretch.
“When people were coming on and off the field, like our linemen, they just keep inspiring me,” Ruhl said. “I just keep pushing for my brothers on the field with me.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Northmor will stay on the road – and stay in Knox County – next week. The Golden Knights will head to East Knox (2-4, 1-2), which lost to Mount Gilead, 22-6, on Friday night.
Armrose said his team will need to regroup and refocus in order to get back on track after two straight losses.
“We’re not gonna be league champs this year. I mean, it’s not gonna happen. But we still desire to play in Week 11. We want postseason play. We’ve got a lot to play for, a lot to work for, a lot of rivalry games coming up,” the sixth-year head coach said.
“We’re gonna keep working hard, we’re gonna keep getting better, and these kids have no quit in them. No quit. They’ll fight ‘til the end every game, every night, and I know that. So we’ve got good things ahead of us, we really do.”
Fredericktown, meanwhile, will hit the road to take on Loudonville (2-4, 0-3) next Friday. The Redbirds lost to Danville on the road this week, 19-7.
Hartley said his team has put itself in position to play meaningful games down the stretch – such as the one next week. Now, it’s time to execute.
“You always break that season up into two halves. The first half, we finished 3-2. And last year, we were in the same position. We were 3-2 and then we dropped three in a row. So we wanted to avoid that this year. We said, ‘Hey, in the second half, we want to be playing meaningful games when we get into the month of October.’ And this sets us up to be doing that the last four weeks of the regular season,” Hartley said.
“We’re gonna be right in the playoff hunt. We need some help, as far as the league’s concerned, but we’ve gotta take care of what we can control, and that’s winning the next four games and taking it one game at a time.”
