By Malcolm Butler
Ruston High will return to the Caesars Superdome Saturday after defeating Mandeville 28-7 at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
Below is a notebook from tonight’s game.
Dome Opponent: While the Bearcats were dominating the Skippers Friday night, the other Nonselect Division I match-up was being dominated by the elements. Dutchtown and Zachary were suspended due to severe weather with 1:48 to play in the third quarter with Dutchtown leading 28-13. The game will resume Saturday at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to face the Bearcats next Saturday (Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.).
“Who knows who it’ll be,” said Baugh. “Either way, we know that there will be a really good football team. And, you know, I think our kids will get focused on on whoever that opponent is. And that’s what they’ve done all season. And I’m really proud of them to be able to, at their age, deal with the pressure that comes with that and to be able to do what we need to do to get that chance.“
Mandeville QB has Ruston Connections: Mandeville sophomore QB Ben Hendricks has Ruston ties. Hendricks is the grandson of Emmett Hendricks, former Louisiana Tech men’s basketball coach from 1974 to 1977. Ben had a tough night in Ruston, getting sacked six times while completing 9-of-14 passes for 107 yards and one TD.
Bearcats Peaking at Right Time: After its success last season and the expectations of making it back to the Dome this year, at times Ruston looked like they weren’t 100 focused during the regular season — almost as if the Bearcats were waiting for the playoffs to put it into full gear. Baugh agreed that was a battle at times.
“I think I think we dealt with some of that through the season,” said Baugh. “Because I think we had a lot of people that jumped us ahead to the state championship because we had so many guys returning. But there’s a lot of things you got to do on the way there. And it’s hard for kids their age to to stay focused on those small goals. But I think they did as well as what kids at their age can can do. And it’s hard as a coach and staff to try to keep the kids focused on the immediate goals, just like I said earlier. And, you know, I think obviously I think there’s a lot of relief for the kids, but I think they completely understand what we have out in front of us to to finish the job.“
Cats Stop Sheppard: Mandeville tailback Nate Sheppard came into Friday night’s game highly-touted after scoring six touchdowns in the Skippers 56-50 quarterfinal win over Airline last weekend. But the Bearcats were able to slow him down all night long outside of a 35-yard run in the third quarter. On the night, Sheppard rushed for just 62 yards on 13 carries.
“The defensive staff did a real good job putting a plan together,” said Baugh. “We wanted to make him bounce the ball and run sideways. And you saw quite a bit tonight that he was sideways because and then we relied on our speed. I thought really the defensive line did a good job. You saw several times where it looked like he was going to have a chance to cut the ball back and the pursuit was there to be able to clean up and get him tackled. And so that is a big deal. That’s something that the defensive coaches and Coach (Kyle) Williams in particular stressed is 11 guys getting after the football. There were times where if we don’t have that pursuit he does have a little lane to run in. You saw he made one big time run and we knew that’s what we were going to have to do.“
New Orleans Travel Plans: Baugh said the Bearcats travel schedule for the Dome would be different than last season when Ruston left the day before the state title game and stayed the night in New Orleans. This year the Bearcats will travel down day of game.
“I made my mind up last year after the ball game was over that (if we made it this year that) we’ll go down the day of on Saturday, We will make it a one day trip. We took a trip to Jesuit (earlier this year) which would be much like that. We did a one day trip and I thought the kids handled it really well. So really, we’ve already been on that trip already this year except instead of going to play at the stadium we played Jesuit at, we’ll just make that trip and go to the Superdome.”
Coaching Pressure: After last year’s success, not only was there pressure on the Bearcat players, but also the Ruston coaching staff. Jerrod Baugh acknowledged that pressure and praised all parties involved for finding a way to make it back to New Orleans.
“I think our coaching staff did a really good job of week to week, just putting a plan together and making the kids focus on getting better,” said Baugh. “And it’s hard. It’s hard to stay focused on that whenever everybody’s jumping you to the last ball game. But that comes with the job. It’s like I told the coaches and the kids … that’s where we want our football program to be. And so if you want that, you got to learn how to deal with it.
“t was one thing that came with the group we had coming back and what the expectations are. And I said it going into the season that I thought that was going to be the next step for our football program. And I think this is a really big step forward. You have all those expectations out there and the coaches and the kids can deal with it and perform like like we’re supposed to. We pushed this forward. People said you’re supposed to be in the state championship. They put in the work and stayed dedicated and and here we are.“
Big-time Throw by Brantley: With Ruston leading 14-0 midway through the second quarter, the Bearcats found themselves faced with a third down and 18 from the Mandeville 26-yard line. Junior QB Josh Brantley made a big-time throw to the far corner of the endzone where Jamar Woods came down with the catch for a TD, giving the Bearcats a little more breathing room heading into the half.
“It was a really big play at a time where we really needed needed a big play,” said Baugh. “Josh is settled in and throwing the ball really well whenever we ask him to do that. We have run the ball quite a bit. That’s kind of what we lean on. But he has come a long way throwing the football and that was absolutely a big, big throw and catch out to Jamar. Jamar stayed focused on the football, making a big play in that moment. (We went into halftime) up 21-0 rather than 14-0. It was a big deal because if Mandeville comes out and scores, then its 21-7 and a two-score ball game instead of a one score game.“
