While all high school football coaches know a lot more about their teams this morning than they did before Friday’s scrimmages, Ruston High School’s Jerrod Baugh learned even more over the weekend.
The Bearcats now have an opponent – Opelousas High School – for their 5 p.m. contest Saturday at ULM in the 15th Annual Bayou Jamb. Originally, Ruston was slated to play district foe and 2020 Class 5A runner-up Alexandria Senior High, but the Trojans have shut down their program for two weeks due to COVID-19 issues at ASH.
“I had not expected to hear this early we would have somebody. I did expect to find someone, but thought it would be the middle of the week before we knew,” said RHS coach Jerrod Baugh. “I’m glad their head coach and their principal are allowing them to ride up here, and it will be a good experience for their team. I’m glad to know for sure we have somebody to play.”
Not that the opponent will make a lot of difference for the Bearcats – it’s just eliminating the uncertainty left by ASH’s unfortunate withdrawal over a week ago.
“We won’t game plan for them, we’ll focus on us, just like we did for the Byrd scrimmage,” said Baugh.
As for that Byrd scrimmage Friday night at Ruston’s “Hoss” Garrett Stadium, it was a mixed bag for the Bearcats, facing a Yellow Jackets squad coming off an unbeaten run to the Division I state championship game. Baugh was not displeased with the Bearcats.
“We did a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. That’s true every year at this time. It’s early in the process.
“The main thing is you want to see kids get out and compete against a different team, and I saw that, against a really good Byrd football team. This is a good gauge to see where we are at this point. We have a chance to be a good team if we continue to work on those things we don’t do very well.”
The team had a weightlifting workout and watched game tape Saturday morning, with coaches pointing out the good, bad and ugly.
“We see what we need to work on, and the players seem receptive to that,” Baugh said.
“Our defense settled in. They took to the coaching they got during the game, particularly against a double-wing offense that creates challenges. The kids reacted well, and once they got coached up, they made adjustments” he said. “They ran to the ball really well, regardless of if we were in the right spot. You need 11 running to the ball.
Baugh was pleased with the offensive line, where some newcomers are getting their feet wet.
“We played pretty well up front on the offensive line. We have to get some guys more experience. Our O-line adjusted well and for the most part executed well.
“Dyson Fields ran the ball really well at tailback. (Receiver) Dawson Willis caught the ball and made some plays, and (quarterback) Jayden Osborne did a good job getting him the ball in clutch situations.
“Special teams were live, and we did well. Our kickoff coverage was good, and we blocked a punt. Games turn on special teams, especially early in the season, so it was good to see us execute well in that phase.
“We had some dropped balls that need to be caught. Some came at crucial points and cost us the chance to continue drives. We need to continue to get better as we get experience on the offensive line. We took a couple of big losses on sacks. Jayden’s got to learn to get rid of the ball to avoid big minus-yardage plays.”
