By T. Scott Boatright
The play of a team’s quarterback is usually a key factor in the outcome of a football game.
And while it’s mostly used to describe a squad’s offensive leader, defenses rely on their quarterbacks, too.
Ruston High School’s defensive quarterback — middle linebacker Jadon Mayfield — played a key role for the Bearcats in Friday night’s 25-19 overtime loss to New Orleans’ Warren Easton High School at L.J. “Hoss” Garrett Stadium.
Whether it was calling the plays for the Bearcats defense, or spending as much time in the Eagles’ backfield as the Warren Easton quarterbacks themselves, Mayfield made the most of every play he was on the field.
The senior tied Ahmad Breaux for most tackles against the Eagles with 10, but RHS coach Jerrod Baugh said it’s some of the intangibles Mayfield brings that makes him that crucial man in the middle for the Bearcats.
“We lean on him a lot,” Baugh said about Mayfield. “He makes all the calls for us defensively to get us lined up.”
And as Baugh has done with other linebackers in the past, he put Mayfield in at fullback a little against the Eagles, too.
“We used him a little on offense,” Baugh said. “We used a bunch of starters on both offense and defense and I told them we’ve got to get into a little better shape. You can run all you want to, but digging in and playing football for four quarters whenever we’re asking them to do that many things both ways and special teams, too, is a lot.”
Baugh said Mayfield could easily end up seeing more action on offense as the season progresses.
“If he can get in shape enough where we can use him quite a bit, that might be something we do more and more of,” Baugh said.
Another RHS linebacker — Zheric Hill — also turned in a big game for the Bearcats, finishing with five tackles and snatching a fumble out of midair as Warren Easton had driven deep into Ruston’s red zone and turning it into a long return that set up a 34-yard scoring strike from Osborne to Jackson that put the Bearcats on top 19-6 late in the third quarter.
“He’s another young kid who we’ve kind of put into Mayfield’s shoes from last year,” Baugh said. “He’s learning a lot being just a sophomore, but we expect those two inside linebackers to be really good.”
Easton scored its last two touchdowns with Keddrick Connelly in at quarterback to replace injured starter Greg Donaldson, who left after being injured in the fourth quarter.
Baugh said he didn’t think the Eagles’ comeback happened because Connelly — who was Warren Easton’s starting quarterback last season before being benched this preseason — brought anything to the table that caught the Bearcats off guard.
“I don’t think so — I think our kids just stayed out there so long defensively it got to them,” Baugh said. “And he was fresh when he came in. I don’t think that was part of their plan to put him in, and I don’t know what that situation is because he was a really good quarterback last year.
“But Donaldson is a really good quarterback, too. He made some big throws, too. He was rolling right and we flushed him out of the pocket and he threw it back across his body and made a long gain on that. I think that getting Connelly out there, and with him being fresh, that gave them a little juice.”
