Nov 28, 2014 3 min read

The chances for a Washington & Jefferson victory over Mount Union today will rise dramatically if tailback Ryan Ruffing is at full strength.

Ruffing, a powerful 6-1, 215-pound junior, has rushed for 1,543 yards and 25 touchdowns. But he suffered what was described by W&J head coach Mike Sirianni as a “lower body injury” two weeks ago and was not at full strength for a win over Wittenberg in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs in Springfield, Ohio.

Zack Puckett and David Kincaid combined for 18 carries and 54 yards, while Ruffing carried eight time for 48 yards.

Ruffing will be in the lineup when the Presidents (10-1) play Mount Union (11-0) in a second-round game in Alliance, Ohio. Kickoff is at noon.

“We need him to be healthy,” Sirianni said. “We need him to be close to 100 percent. He’s our starter and leading rusher.”

Sirianni said earlier in the week that Ruffing was ahead of the pace he was on last week in preparing for Wittenberg. The decision on Ruffing’s health will be made by the W&J training staff.

“We’ll prepare to go without him if we have to,” Sirianni said. “Puckett and Kincaid played well last week. But Ruffing is a downhill rusher, and while some runners run sideline-to-sideline, he will run you over. He breaks a lot of tackles.”

Before the injury, Ruffing was chasing the W&J season record for rushing touchdowns, 32 set by Chris Babirad in 1992.

He had five rushing touchdowns in the opener against Wooster and reached 19 through Week 7. Ruffing is second to Thomas More tailback Domonique Hayden in Division III scoring with a 15.8-point average.

“If he is able to practice, I think he’ll be all right,” Siriannia said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Ruffing is just one of three W&J running backs to gain more than 1,500 yards in a season. The other two are Babirad, who did it in 1991 and ’92, and Joey Nichols, who did it in 2001. Ruffing needs 35 yards to move into third place on the single-season rushing yards list, passing Nichols’ 1,577 in 2001.

Record return: Senior Max Creighan’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Wittenberg broke a 28-year-old W&J record. DeWayne Jeter and Dion Wiegand each had 92-yard returns for scores. Jeter did it against Case Western Reserve in 1986 and Wiegand did it last year against Thomas More.

Turnover kings: While Mount Union has the winningest program in Division III and can tout numerous impressive records, none might be as incredible as this: When the Purple Raiders have won the turnover battle in a game, their record is 143-0 since 1996. That number goes to 188-1 since 1990, the lone loss coming against UW-Whitewater in the 1995 semifinals.

Meanwhile, W&J is 22-3 when not committing a turnover in Sirianni’s 12 years as head coach. All three losses have come in the NCAA playoffs: 2013 and 2009 against Mount Union and 2007 against N.C. Wesleyan.