Ruble’s arm sparks Seymour offense

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Cody Ruble’s arm and Seymour High School’s football team gave Jennings County coaches fresh film to ponder leading up to Friday night’s game at Bulleit Stadium.

The Owls trotted out a whole new offensive look in a 35-0 victory over Madison last week, and so many different receivers caught passes, future opponents will not only need a scorecard to catch up but might need late-night sessions wondering who should cover who.

Ruble completed passes to seven different receivers, which might well be more than Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers finds in his season opener Sunday against Jacksonville.

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Overall, Ruble went 22 for 34 for 212 yards as the Owls, now 1-2, played sharper and were high flying compared to their first two games. This was by design, a shift in approach from the coaching staff to speed things up, encourage Ruble to get rid of the ball faster and lessen the pressure on the offensive line to hold its blocks as long.

“We did some things differently,” Seymour coach Tyson Moore said. “We opened up the game. We hit a lot of short, outside passes. We knew if we could gas them, it would take them out of the game.”

Almost overlooked in the hubbub of Seymour’s first win of the 2020 season was the first win as a head coach of Moore’s career. Moore, 28, was named coach in May.

“First one,” he said. “First one feels good.”

After some sluggish running in the first two games, the coaches figured Ruble might be the Owls’ most dangerous weapon, and that proved true. They also studied Madison and saw vulnerability against the throwing game.

“They had some good defensive linemen up front,” Moore said. “We were going to pick on their secondary. We felt they had a weakness there.”

Ruble, 18, is 6-foot-2 and weighs around 180 pounds. He is a senior, but in terms of experience, most of his quarterbacking before this season was practicing, not as a starter.

He spent two years at Columbus North before transferring, and most of his playing time came in the defensive secondary as he waited for this chance.

“I thought the uptempo game really helped us,” Ruble said. “When we speed it up, it makes their (the defense’s) heart rate speed up a little. It helps us against teams we believe we’re better than. We got the ball out quick. By the looks of it, we executed well.”

Ruble made friends with more receivers than most fans realize the Owls have. Drew Vehslage (who also scored a touchdown on a blocked punt) caught six passes, Ryan Elmore five, Colin Greathouse four, Owen Anderson three, Jack Pennington two, Thomas Fraizer one and Bret Perry one.

“It’s always nice to have so much talent,” Ruble said. “I’m lucky to have so many receivers.”

The pace appeals to him, too.

“It helps me keep my momentum going,” Ruble said.

Moore seemed particularly tickled Perry and Pennington grabbed passes because they are freshmen. The message to other teams, Moore said of this diverse group all getting hands on the ball for gains, is keeping defenses from not keying on any one person.

“That helps us out quite a bit,” he said. “We hope that sets us up for the rest of the season. We have felt it has been us beating ourselves. If we continue to polish up on the errors, we feel we can beat anyone. That’s been our message to the guys.”

Ruble was all-around happy about how the Owls performed on both sides of the ball, not only in the passing game.

“Our defense was stellar,” said Ruble, who also is fulfilling the role he always dreamed of playing. “I love it. Just being around the guys is what I enjoy most. I’m making memories for when I’m an old man.”

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