Deante Ruffin puts on a show as Camden High School football rallies past Salem at Rutgers

PISCATAWAY – West Deptford football and the Wing-T are synonymous.

It’s run, run, run when you’re flying with the green and white, and that wasn’t easy for Deante Ruffin growing up.

“I feel I was always born to throw,” he said.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder was a freshman starter behind center for the Eagles last season and only attempted 64 passes.

He’s nearly thrown that many in two games with Camden High this year, and he showed the fans at SHI Stadium at Rutgers University Sunday he’s well on the way to putting his name among the best signal callers in South Jersey.

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The sophomore gunslinger was 20-of-38 passing for 298 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions and ran 18 times for 101 yards and 3 scores to lead the Panthers to a 28-21, fourth-quarter comeback over Salem at the Rumble on the Raritan.

“It’s definitely difficult going from running 95 percent of the time to now throwing 90 percent of the time, but I mean, I’ve prepared myself,” Ruffin said.

Ruffin has a howitzer for a right arm, but he’s still learning how to put touch on the ball. He overthrew a few open receivers down the field in the opening half against Salem, but also delivered a perfect pass to the back pylon for Hamin Anderson in the second quarter for his first touchdown with the Panthers – and Anderson made an unbelievable toe-tap to complete the play.

As the game went on, Ruffin got more and more comfortable.

“We just telling him to calm down, keep it cool and that we got him,” Anderson said. “We tell him we got him. We always tell him we got him.”

Ruffin had the Panthers’ back too as his leadership was apparent as they game got deeper.

“It’s been a concentrated effort as a staff to get him to do that,” head coach Rob Hinson said. “He’s a sophomore and he’s like coach, I don’t want to step on toes too much or whatever, and we’re like, we’ll you’re the freaking quarterback, so you got to do that, and he’s like alright, I got it, and this week was like the first real week where he kind of took over as our team leader.”

Ruffin took over the final quarter, particularly the go-ahead touchdown drive.

He broke four tackles and juked around another defender to pick up a 3rd-and-13, and threw a dime to Jaylan Hornsby on 2nd-and-29 for 36 yards to set his team up inside the red zone. He punctuated the drive with his third rushing score of the game – a 1-yarder – to put the Panthers up 28-21.

“There’s times where I’m like, since I’m in a passing offense I have to throw and I lose that running side of me, but I feel this game I showed a perfect balance,” Ruffin said. “When it was time to run, I got out of there, when it was time to throw, I threw.”

And the Panthers believe the arrow will only go up from here.

“He can actually throw it probably even better than what he’s doing right now,” Hinson said. “We’re trying not to just completely go wide open just yet because he hasn’t had that many throws in the past, but he’s showing us, like give him as many opportunities as you want and he’s going to make something happen with it.”

Music request

Rob Hinson couldn’t have been happier to pick up his first win as Camden’s coach, as he showed by dancing in the middle of the team in front of the high school’s legendary band.

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However, he did lament one thing.

“I remember a lot of those songs when I was here in high school, the ‘Hawaii Five-0’ theme song was really the song I was waiting for them to play because that’s our thing from back in the 70’s,” the 1989 graduate said. “But being able to celebrate with the students, I work in the building with those students, and then being able to celebrate with the band director who loves us and who went to Camden High himself, and the fans were kind of eating it up too, it’s really special to get that first win as a Camden High guy.”

Three things we learned

➤ Speed kills: Salem is a fast football team, but Camden’s deep receiving corps including Jaylan Hornsby, Anderson and Terron Davis got by the Rams secondary on multiple occasions.

“I know my guys are faster than any corner in South Jersey,” Ruffin said.

➤ Keep an eye on Jahleer Stanley: Ruffin and Camden’s options on the outside get a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but don’t sleep on their junior tailback. Stanley showed off his playmaking ability by rushing for 81 yards on 16 attempts and turning 6 receptions into 49 yards.

➤ Salem needs more offensive balance: Quarterback Jahki Coates had some impressive moments, completing 7-of-16 passes for 88 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions and running 15 times for 86 yards and 2 scores, but the Panthers did a good job containing him overall.

The Rams had trouble running the ball outside of Coates. If they could threaten teams on the ground, it’ll make a strong offense that much better.

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Game balls

Ruffin: Took over the game in the second half and led the team to victory.

Anderson: Had 5 catches for 100 yards, and his touchdown reception in the back of the end zone was the highlight of the afternoon.

Camden secondary: The Panthers didn’t give up a reception in the second half. Taquan Brittingham and Izzy Clark both had interceptions, with Clark’s sealing the win in the final two minutes.

Ramaji Bundy: Salem junior had a 50-yard touchdown reception and picked off Ruffin twice to help the Rams maintain the lead for much of the game.

They said it

“We learn to never give up. If we would’ve gave up, the game would’ve been over. We were down by a touchdown, but we never gave up. If you don’t give up, you see the results.”

– Camden’s Anderson on the team hanging tough despite not holding a lead until there was 7:24 left in the game.

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Deante Ruffin stars for Camden High football at Rumble on the Raritan