COURTLAND
The Southampton County High School Indians opened their first home game and the welcoming back of longtime Indian Coach Littleton Parker with a big win of 52-34 over the visiting Colonials off Colonial Heights High School on Friday.

It didn’t look good for the home team on their first series of downs as an Indian pass was picked off by the Colonials, which led to a quick score in the opening minutes of the first quarter.

The Indians’ first score of the game came in the 2nd quarter as RB Tyrik Mason carried the pigskin 77 yards for a score. The Indians also scored in the 2nd quarter as Jonathan Hall scored on a blocked kick as the home team went ahead 14-6. Hall later added the Indians last score of the half on a 1-yard touchdown run. The Indians outscored the Colonials 20-15 in the 2nd quarter, but at the half they were down 20-21.

“We went in at half-time and made some adjustments and came back out and saw some results with that,” Parker commented after the game.

The Indians continued their offensive scoring in the 3rd quarter with 20 points while holding the Colonials to 13 points. Mason added another touchdown on a run of 41 yards. Tayriel Ruffin also added a touchdown in the 3rd quarter for the home team on a 64-yard run. The Indians’ last score of the quarter came as QB AJ Blunt connected in the air on a 19-yard touchdown pass to De’von Tynes.

For the 4th quarter of play it was all Indians as they had the only scores of 12 points. In scoring for the Indians, Tayriel Ruffin scored on a 2-yard run and Tyrik Mason also on an 11-yard run.

Parker said, “In the 4th quarter we did not put that much pressure on them and concentrated on taking their receivers away from them. Many of their slot players we jammed them a lot.”

In rushing, the Indians were led by Tayriel Ruffin with 217 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tyrik Mason followed with 144 yards and 3 touchdowns. All total, the Indians rushed for 377 yards.

For the Colonials, they only rushed for 66 yards while in the air they had 374 yards.

Parker further remarked after the game, “We played a good offensive ball game. Overall, our kids hung in there and fought and didn’t let down. They rose to the occasion when they had to. They played well. We made adjustments quarter by quarter to shut down that passing game.”

He added that he is happy to be back and gives a lot of credit that that staff is doing good coaching this year. In looking at his game for next week, Parker commented that the game on Friday, Sept. 23 (against Sussex Central) “is going to be a tough one and we are going to get ready for it.”