By T. Scott Boatright
Ruston High School head football coach Jerrod Baugh has never been known for worrying about the score during a controlled spring football game, which is set up more like a glorified practice than a true game-like experience.
And that’s probably a good thing after meeting Class 4A defending state championship Edna Karr Saturday in Hahnville and watching the Cougars roar to nine scores while not allowing any for the Bearcats.
“We’ve got a lot of younger guys that needed some experience against a good football team — and Karr truly is a really good team,” Baugh said. “It was a good opportunity for us, especially for a spring scrimmage. We made some mistakes and they got some balls scored. We got some good drives and killed ourselves with some fumbles. And we had a couple of scores called back by penalties. With it being a scrimmage, we had the controlled part where each team got a certain number of snaps.”
Baugh said the format of the day can make the end result somewhat deceiving.
“It was mixed with the first group and second group, and to be completely honest I haven’t yet counted to see how much they scored against the first group,” Baugh said. “We had a couple of drives going with both groups — first and second — that we were on the plus end of the field but we just ran out of plays. If we would have been able to finish some of those drives we’d probably have left feeling a little better.”
RHS baseball players Dawson Willis (quarterback) and Dyson Fields (running back) both participated in the scrimmage but track standout BJ Green, a state champion triple jumper who also plays crucial roles both defensively and offensively, did not.
