By Kyle Roberts

RUSTON, La. — For the second year in a row, Warren Easton came to The Hoss for the season opener and beat the Ruston High Bearcats (0-1) in a one-score ballgame, this time by a final of 20-19 in front of a packed home crowd.

Despite the Bearcats out-rushing the Eagles 194 to 105 yards, Warren Easton used a very well executed air attack as well as a rushing offense to keep Ruston’s defense guessing through the night.

“We were really inconsistent offensively,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “We were able to be consistent in putting drives together, and we were very inconsistent in the kicking game. I think that bit us in the butt a little bit at times.

“We thought we had an advantage in the special teams; they were kind of shaky with their punt team, and we should have been able to take advantage of those things and we just didn’t get it done. So we’ve got a lot of work today.”

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Despite trailing 14-7 at the half, Ruston was able to get two scores in the third quarter to take a lead into the fourth. The first came off of a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone by senior cornerback Semaj Jones with 6:01 left to go in the third quarter. After a missed PAT, the Eagle lead was cut to 14-13.

The Bearcats struck again to take their first lead of the night after a 17-yard touchdown reception by senior linebacker Jaden Mayfield from the fullback position. After going for the two-point conversion, a penalty for offensive pass interference was called that ended the try. The Bearcats would lead 19-14.

Warren Easton, however, struck the final blow on the scoreboard with a five-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Greg Donaldson on fourth down and three with 10:14 to play.

Ruston had an opportunity in the last two minutes of the night with the ball near midfield. On fourth down, however, senior quarterback Josh Brantley was unable to convert on fourth down, giving the ball back to the Eagles for the victory formation.

“We had some communications up front,” Baugh said. “Anytime you’re replacing a lot of starters up front, you’re going to have that. And they put a lot of (defenders) in the box and made it more difficult.

“We’re used to seeing that; it’s something we should have been able to handle and we just didn’t. We’ve got to find a way to do that.”

The Eagles struck first late in the first quarter with an 7-yard touchdown pass from Donaldson to senior wide receiver Kyon McDonald on an out-route with 2:49 left to go in the period.

Ruston’s offense answered with a 33-yard touchdown run by junior Jordan Hayes on a toss. After making a man miss in the backfield, Hayes found a crease through the middle and turn on the jets for the scoring rush.

After both defenses held strong for a few possessions, Donaldson sold a perfect play fake from his own 17-yard line and found senior running back Fred Robertson on a fly route for an 83-yard touchdown reception to take a 14-7 lead.

The score would hold into halftime.

Sophomore Lander Smith led the Bearcats with 74 yards rushing, while Hayes finished with 55 yards and a touchdown.

Baugh added at the end that he had hoped to see more excitement and energy from his team for the opening game.

“I was a little bit disappointed that our kids didn’t seem to be a little more excited to be out there playing early on,” Baugh said. “It shouldn’t take a close football game for them to get pumped up about playing. We’ll address a lot of the mistakes we made and try to be better prepared as coaches and kids for next week, because if we don’t, Jesuit is a good football team.

“It’s not supposed to be easy. We’ll get to work in the morning and put together some good practices and be ready to roll next Friday.”

Ruston returns to action Friday, Sept. 8, down in New Orleans to take on the Jesuit Blue Jays. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and can be streamed on BearcatNationNetwork.com and heard on Z107.5 FM.