By Kyle Roberts
Friday night left little doubt on the field for the Ruston Bearcats.
Celebrating 21 seniors for the final regular season home game of the year, the ‘Cats (9-0, 4-0 District 2-5A) gave the hometown fans plenty to cheer about, beating the Ouachita Parish Lions (2-7, 1-3 District 2-5A) 49-7, with all the points being scored in the first half.
“I thought our guys did a really good job coming out and being ready to play after kind of an up-and-down week in practice,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “But I told them if if they come out mentally ready, we’ll be we’ll be ready to go.”
Ruston’s offense shot out of the gate on the first play of the game with a 65-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Josh Brantley, who had a stellar performance rushing for 95 yards and going 5-of-6 through the air for 99 yards a touchdown.
Junior running back Jordan Hayes followed shortly after with an eight-yard touchdown run, his first of three rushing touchdowns on the night, including a long run of 73 yards near the end of the second quarter.
“It was just a matter of time for him,” Baugh said about Hayes breaking some long runs. “He is staying steady and not trying to hit a home run all the time; just hitting holes where he needs to. He was going to pop loose and and ended up being able to do that tonight.”
Senior Zhy Scott also hauled in a touchdown grab through the air from 46-yards out following an onside kick recovery by the Bearcats at the beginning of the second quarter. Ruston was able to recover multiple onside kicks after excellent efforts by freshman kicker Joaquin Ramos.
“I know it’s not everybody’s favorite thing unless we get them and that makes me pretty smart whenever we get them and stupid whenever we don’t,” Baugh said about taking chances with onside kicks. “But, you know, we saw some things on video that we were going to take advantage of and our kids like to do it. And any time the kids are pumped up about doing it, I think it’s a bonus for us. We’ll continue to do that if teams give us that. It’s not something we just want to do to do, and it’s just always in the plan. And the kids do a great job to execute.”
Sophomore fullback Lander Smith would also find paydirt from two-yards out with 9:21 to go in the first half. Sophomore Zander Hayes, starting at linebacker for the second time this year, returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown for the final score of the first half to give Ruston an insurmountable 49-7 lead before halftime.
Jordan Hayes would finish the night with 137 yards on 11 rushes with three scores.
Senior defensive back Semaj Jones would also get an interception on the night, while seniors Jadon Mayfield and Nate Johnson finished with five tackles apiece. Senior Geordan Guidry was also credited with a sack.
The Bearcats outgained Ouachita 363 yards to 84 on the night.
The one spot Ruston will need to address from the victory was penalties– Ruston committed eight on the night for a total of 41 yards.
“They do a good job of trying to make you jump offsides with some things that they do with their defensive line, making some calls up front and shifts in their defensive line,” Baugh said. “We’re gonna have to get better at those things.”
Following West Monroe’s 28-23 win over Alexandria Senior High, the Bearcats and the Rebels will clash for the outright District 2-5A championship next Friday night in the regular season finale in what may very well be an electric atmosphere in Rebel Stadium.
“It’s great for our kids to be able to turn around and see the support that we have from not just family, but from the community,” Baugh said of the Ruston fans and faithful. “And that’s been an ongoing deal for the last couple of seasons. Hopefully, we’ll continue that through the last regular season game over at West Monroe and working in the playoffs.”
