Ruiz Reels in Southland Special Teams Player of the Week Accolade
9/9/2019 11:00:00 AM | Football
Senior scored 14 points, booted career-high four field goals in SFA's home opener
Complete Southland Conference Release
FRISCO, Texas - For the first time in nearly two years, an SFA football player has locked down a Southland Conference Player of the Week accolade. The individual who found himself on the receiving end of it when the league made its announcement Monday morning was senior placekicker Storm Ruiz who earned the title of Southland Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on the heels of his performance against Tarleton State in SFA's home opener last Saturday night.
Hailing from League City, Texas, Ruiz's leg helped the 'Jacks stay within striking distance of their in-state adversaries all night long inside Homer Bryce Stadium. Ruiz split the uprights on all four of his field goal attempts, nailing shots from 29, 32, 36 and 37 yards out to go along with a pair of extra points. Those four field goals were the second-most by a Lumberjack kicker in a single game in the history of the program.
Ruiz accounted for 14 of SFA's 27 points - just over half - in the squad's 36-27 setback to the fifth-ranked team in the ranks of NCAA Division II. Not only were those four field goals made a career-high for Ruiz, they were also the most by an SFA kicker since Jordan Wiggs drilled four of them in a Southland Conference home win over Lamar on Nov. 3, 2012.
As of this writing, Ruiz ranks third among all FCS players in field goals per game (2.50) and 30th in terms of scoring average (9.5 points per game). Before Ruiz, the last SFA player to earn a Southland Conference Player of the Week citation was Kijana Amous who received the league's Offensive Player of the Week honor on Oct. 23, 2017.
Ruiz and the rest of the 'Jacks head northwest in search of their first victory of the 2019 season. Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. CT, SFA tangles with Big Sky Conference foe Southern Utah inside Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah.
-SFA-
