By Kyle Roberts
Ruston will make the familiar trip to Bill Ruple Stadium on the campus of Neville High School for the final non-district matchup of the 2023 regular season tonight in a continuation of a rivalry that has been decked out on the field 96 times over the years.
And to pour some extra hot sauce on what will likely be one of the most watched games in the state, both teams enter tonight undefeated at 4-0.
“I know I sound like a broken record, but we’re going to line up against a really good football team,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said in his coach’s show interview with Nick Brown. “It’s another Neville team that sounds like the previous ones: really good skill players, and they do an excellent job of putting them in the right spots to be able to make plays offensively. They’re just an all-around solid football team.”
Neville most recently dispatched North Caddo 54-0 last Friday night and will host Ruston for their fifth consecutive home game of the 2023 season. They’ve already beaten both Evangel (30-29 in OT) and Ouachita 19-15 after the Lions took a 12-6 lead into the halftime locker room. The second quarter touchdown for the Tigers was a kickoff returned for a touchdown, which Baugh admitted has been a thorn in the side of Ruston in recent games with Neville.
“You have them stopped in one area and then, all of a sudden, they make a big play in another area,” Baugh said. “So what we’ll try to do is limit those guys’ possessions and limit the opportunities that they have to get their hands on the ball.
“In the punt and kickoff game, we’ll try to make sure we angle balls away from those guys and make sure that our coverage guys are in their lanes and taking care of all the things that they need to. That’s just always important.”
Ruston’s defense picked Lafayette Christian off five times last week en route to the 29-26 victory, returning two for touchdowns. The Knights, however, still had an opportunity at the end of the contest, but an offensive pass interference call on fourth down effectively ended with a Ruston victory.
Through the first four games, as predicted, Ruston’s veteran defense would be the bastion for the team as a young offense continues to get comfortable.
“There were points during the ballgame where our offense needed to possess the ball and take some time off the clock and give our defense a rest,” Baugh said. “They did exactly that. And I know a lot of people like to see you score it every time (you have it on offense). And we do want to score every time, but a lot of times with the game flow, you want to do it in a way that it’s helping the rest of your team out.
“There in the third quarter, we had a big offensive drive that ended up taking half of the quarter away from the other team. I think we’re really close to being really good, but you know, we’re going through some growing pains. But I think our kids and coaches know it’s a team game. And whenever one group is struggling or is not able to get things done, we generate some points from another area. I think that’s one of the best things about this football team.”
The Bearcats come in ranked No. 5 in 5A, while the Tigers are No. 2 in 4A as noted by the LSWA weekly Top Ten poll.
Ruston and Neville will kickoff tonight at 7 p.m. and can be streamed free of charge on BearcatNationNetwork.com and listened to on 97.7FM.
