Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Springfield’s Kolten Ruark throws a pass on Friday against Mathews. He completed all six of his passes for three TDs in Springfield’s 42-0 first round victory.

In sports, it’s rarely an easy task when you’re asked to be the man to replace “The Man.” That’s especially true when it comes to the quarterback position in football.

Just ask Babe Laufenberg, the San Diego Chargers quarterback who followed in the footsteps of Dan Fouts.

Does Todd Collins ring a bell? Perhaps not, unless you are a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan who remembers Collins’ failed attempt at replacing Jim Kelly.

Replacing Warren Moon was such a difficult task in Houston, the Oilers turned to Cody Carlson, Bucky Richardson, and Billy Joe Tolliver all in the same season. The team finished with a 2-14 record.

Springfield High junior quarterback Kolten Ruark can relate.

For three years from 2019 to 2021, Beau Brungard was widely regarded as the area’s top quarterback. Brungard helped lead Springfield to three regional titles, including back-to-back trips to the Division VI State Championship game. In his senior season, Brungard threw for 1,779 yards, ran for 1,754 yards, and accounted for 54 total touchdowns.

During the span, Springfield owned a record of 38-4.

Then in August of 2022, the Springfield offense was handed over to Ruark.

“There was definitely pressure, but it wasn’t just on me, it was on the whole team to carry on the success,” Ruark said. “Beau and that entire senior class really set a standard. It wasn’t about me trying to match what Beau did, because that would be impossible. It was about us as a team trying to maintain that winning tradition.

“Then my first game as a varsity starter is against South Range, and they really smacked us in the face. It was like, ‘Okay, we’re still very young and inexperienced, we all have huge shoes to fill and we have a lot of work to do.'”

Following the 37-7 loss to South Range, Springfield would go on to lose three more. At 0-4, it appeared as though the Tigers’ playoff run had come to an end.

However, Springfield would then put together a six-game winning streak to finish the season 6-4 and move all the way up to the eighth spot in the Division VII, Region 25 computer rankings. Last week the Tigers defeated Mathews 42-0 in a first-round game. It was the Tigers’ third shutout win in their last four games.

Tonight, Springfield (7-4) travels to Liberty to play top-seeded Warren John F. Kennedy (9-1) in a regional quarterfinal game.

“We’ve definitely come a long way, and I feel like I’ve come a long way as an individual,” Ruark said. “But honestly, I think this is a credit to players like Beau who made us better players, and of course our coaches.

“Coach (Sean) Guerriero has always been with me. I understand the game so much more than I did a year ago thanks to him. This whole coaching staff makes us the team we are.”

Prior to this year, Ruark’s varsity experience was limited to mop-up duty, filling in for Brungard after Springfield built big leads. His biggest contribution was serving as the scout team quarterback during practices.

However, Ruark says the experience – and the extended practices thanks to long playoff runs – prepared him for 2022.

“Just playing against our defense every day at practice was a great experience because it gave me an opportunity to learn against some great players,” Ruark said. “And we were practicing into December every year. All of that extra time prepared me for this year.”

Ruark noted that during that time, Brungard also served as his mentor and role model.

“Beau was the ultimate leader, he led by example in everything he did,” Ruark said. “For him, it wasn’t just about being a great player but an even better teammate.

“Following our playoff loss to Carey, he pulled me aside and told me, ‘This is your team now. Time flies, take it all in.’ He let me know that I could go to him for help or advice. That meant everything to me.”

Through 11 games, Ruark has completed 89-of-144 passes for 1,251 yards, including 19 touchdowns.

Last week against Mathews, Ruark was a perfect 6-for-6 with three touchdown passes.

Springfield’s turnaround began on Sept. 16 when the 0-4 Tigers traveled to Mineral Ridge, which at the time was 4-0.

Ruark completed 18-of-26 passes for a season-high 245 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Tigers to a 20-12 win.

The victory came after Springfield lost to South Range, Brookfield, Geneva, and Lowellville. Those four teams are all still in the playoffs. They own a combined record of 40-4.

“That’s definitely a tough way to start a varsity career,” Ruark said. “For me it was like, wow, varsity ball is so much faster, bigger, stronger. But I think it’s what turned our season around. It made our team become much better as the season went on.”

Guerriero says that Ruark has grown as a quarterback “by leaps and bounds” since August. Guerriero echoed Ruark’s comments regarding the fact that experience is the best teacher.

“Right out of the gate we might have faced our toughest non-conference schedule in school history,” Guerriero said. “Kolten was thrown into the fire. He has a cannon of an arm, he has great football smarts. It was just a matter of getting reps and gaining experience.

“Our biggest concern was getting Kolten to understand that he had to be himself. We didn’t expect him to put up fifty points a game or to put up the numbers we saw from Beau the past couple of years. This is a different team.”

Guerriero believes that Ruark’s best days are still ahead of him.

“He understands coverages, he’s a student of the game and he’s learning with each game,” Guerriero said. “He’s starting to trust his arm. And, we really haven’t showcased his running ability. If we need him to tuck and run, we have a lot of confidence in that aspect of his game.”

For now, Ruark is solely focused on the task at hand, which involves facing a Kennedy team which pretty much matches Springfield’s recent playoff resume.

“We’re excited because no one is really giving us a chance and we like the challenge,” Ruark said. “We’re going to go up against one of the best schools in the state in our division. It’s a great test for our program and I think it will show us where we stand as a team.

“For the first time since I’ve been here, we’ve been the underdog all year long. It gives us extra motivation.”

Tonight’s winner will face either Southern or Norwalk St. Paul next week in a regional semifinal contest.