By Kyle Roberts
Working through a week after a big win in New Orleans over Jesuit 35-7, the Ruston Bearcats (1-1) now turn their attention to the Cabot Panthers (2-1) of Arkansas for an out-of-state matchup.
Last week’s win comes after the Bearcats were tied with the Blue Jays at halftime 7-7 before putting up 28 unanswered points in the second half.
“I was pleased in the second half,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “We still made some mistakes, but I thought the kids played harder and with more emotion in the second half. I tore them up pretty good at halftime, and they responded, so that was good. Then we talked on Sunday when the guys came back in that we need to put four quarters together like we played in the second half.
“I know we can’t play mistake free football over long periods of time, but I want to see kids playing with emotion and playing hard for four quarters, too.”
Ruston rushed for two second half touchdowns, one by both junior runnings back Jordan Hayes and Dylone Brooks, blocked a punt that was recovered in the end zone by junior cornerback Aidan Anding for a score, and saw senior cornerback Semaj Jones take a pick-six 100-plus yards to the house, all in the second half.
Another key play in the second half for the offense was a long pass from junior quarterback Josh Brantley to senior wide receiver Logan Malone in the third quarter for 40 yards. It was a pass that changed the dynamic of the Jesuit defense to allow the rushers more room to move the football on a consistent basis.
“The defense was giving us some things right there, and we needed to make a play,” Baugh said. “Logan, obviously, has the most experience out of our receivers coming back, and he needed to make a play for his confidence level and Josh’s confidence level. It was good to see.”
A concern Ruston had in last week’s trip to Jesuit was the long day of travel, but Baugh said that the Bearcats had a good day overall.
“I thought they handled the trip pretty well,” Baugh said. “We tried to time it out to make it similar if we happen to make another trip to New Orleans and do that in one day. I think we’ve got a starting point for that. I had been concerned after that about the rest level, and we took Saturday off to let them sleep late after we got in. They came in Sunday afternoon and handled that really well. They seem to be where they need to be at this point in the week.
“But we’ll see. You take another long trip and you won’t know how it turns out until afterwards. But up to this point, I think they’ve handled it well.”
Cabot lost to Ruston in 2022 at The Hoss on a last-second field goal. The Panthers historically have been a powerhouse in Arkansas football, which meets the criteria for non-district opponents in Ruston’s Baugh era.
“Cabot is really similar to Jesuit in respect to what they do offensively and defensively,” Baugh said. “I think they get after it on both sides. They’re good up front on offensive and defensive line. I think it’ll be a battle like it turned into last year. They’ll be ready to play in front of their home crowd; it looks like from watching video that they always have a good turnout up there.
“I expect for them to be ready to play.”
Off the field, there was speculation early in the week that former West Monroe head coach Todd Garvin would be coming back to Ruston after no being relived of head coaching duties in the previous weeks for the Rebels. Thursday, Garvin was officially announced by the school to coach tight ends and running backs along with teaching math.
Baugh acknowledged that he was pleased with the way the kids handled themselves through all of it.
“I think our kids have done an excellent job of filtering out the distractions,” Baugh added. “That is something we constantly talk about, anyway, focusing on the things we can control and putting our time and effort into that.”
The Bearcats and Panthers will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on BearcatNationNetwork.com and can be heard on Z107.5 FM. The Jerrod Baugh Coach’s Show will air at 6:30 p.m.
