By Kyle Roberts
Stifling summer heat aside, middle school football fans on Aug. 31 packed out Ruston Junior High’s stadium to watch a pair of games: the seventh graders against sixth grade I.A. Lewis and the eighth graders against Calvary Baptist from Shreveport.
“This was the first year that I know of that RJHS and I.A. Lewis have played each other,” Ruston Junior High head coach Hilton Hay said of his seventh graders’ 22-6 win. “It brought a really big crowd which was awesome to see. I felt like both teams played very well. Our seventh grader Anthonie Tobin scored all three touchdowns for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing what both of these teams do for us next year.”
Not to be outdone, the eighth graders won a nail-biter over Calvary Baptist 16-8 on a last second touchdown pass from Aiden Adams to Max Pyles.
“I thought the defense did a really good job of containing them to one score,” Hay said. “Offensively, we struggled to hold onto the football, but that’s something we can work on and fix. It was a good start to the season, and the team showed a lot of promising things to build on.”
A proud Ruston High graduate and former football player himself, Hay is in his second season as the head coach for the seventh and eighth grade RJHS Bearkits after spending time at the high school level for his alma mater.
And while Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh may be focused on the varsity season that is now in full swing, it’s equally important for him to have a handle on how these future Bearcats fared last week and into their own 2023 season and to be supportive of Hay in his role as the head coach of the Bearkits.
“A lot of people have this idea that they’re “just” coaching at the junior high,” Baugh said. “But it absolutely is one of the most important jobs; in fact, probably the head job down there may be even more important than mine in some ways because it can be majorly beneficial to the high school or detrimental, depending on who that person is and what they have going on.”
In fact, one of Baugh’s first acts as the new head coach nearly seven years ago was to develop a more streamlined approach from I.A. Lewis, to Ruston Junior High to the high school. And it required an overhaul in the change of philosophy at a time when the new high school head coach did not have the multiple winning seasons and a state title run to back up the changes.
For Baugh, having one junior high here in Ruston lended itself to implement the strategy of unifying the schools’ approach to the similar playbooks and similar game plans.
But, as with any change, there was resistance in the beginning.
“I think there was a lot of question on what the purpose was or maybe what the feeling was on (making the changes),” Baugh said. “There was a lot of pushing and shoving on that at first. I will say one thing about not just Ruston, but any place, is that you’ll have people supportive until you starting changing stuff or changing people’s roles. Some people had to be moved around or some moved away. It’s not always an easy thing to do.
“But at the time, I did not say that my way was the only right way; instead, I thought if we screwed it up all in the same direction, at least we’re headed in the same direction. It took a little while to get people on board that were bought into what we’re doing.”
Baugh’s previous stint as a head coach in Texas was ultimately why he recognized the importance of engaging the middle school
“It was something I did out of necessity,” Baugh said. “In Gladewater (Baugh’s previous head coach position prior to Ruston), we were in a really tough district with Carthage and Gilmer. It was tough sledding in there.
“I had to try to figure out how to get this program that had not been very good at all and not even making the playoffs. So it took a lot to figure out what we needed to do. And I had brought a junior high coach with me over there to Gladewater from Longview. We worked really close to figure out what how to try to get things going between the junior high and high school at the time.”
Baugh took that same approach to back in 2017 by going to the RJHS administration to pitch his idea of having the high school program be more involved with the junior high, who was willing to try it.
“I wanted to try something on a preliminary basis,” Baugh said. “I wanted their coaches to come be in the room with us and come watch what we do anytime the high school coaches were there. That was the first stage of trying to get the seventh and eighth grade going.
“At the end of the day, everybody was trying to do what was best for the kids.”
For Hay, the relationship between the schools that was fostered those years ago has only improved and blossomed for his crew.
“I think we have a great relationship,” Hay said, as he starts his second season at the Bearkit head coach. “Starting in the summertime, we meet to get ready for the new season and what they’re expecting from the junior high level. We communicate on summer workouts and summer conditioning. We’re all involved in the kids’ camp; junior high all the way up. And then we have a coach’s retreat, where we get together and discuss fall practice and more on what the high school wants to get from the junior high.
“Through the season, we communicate all the time. Maybe not everyday, because they are obviously busy, but there’s probably four or five of the coaches that come to our home games; and there are even some who come to the away games. And after the high school season ends, they’ll be over here every Thursday to watch workouts.”
The results spoke for themselves: last year’s 2022 squad had the first class of seniors that benefitted from Baugh’s new approach and made their way to the Super Dome, ended West Monroe’s three-decade winning streak over the Bearcats and taking the 2-5A District title.
Now a defensive tackle for Northwestern State, Christian Davis anchored the defensive line for Ruston last season was one of those seniors who remembers what it was like to be invested in early on by the high school when he himself was a middle-schooler.
“It was help for us to build our chemistry early on,” Davis said. “The coaches would come watch up practice and work out. We would run similar defensive schemes that were simplified for junior high players. But we would also get together on Friday nights and go watch the high school games together.
“I thought that was a big part of being connected with older groups and getting to spend time with them.”
Anytime there are shifts in culture, there are inherent risks. But thankfully, the payoff has been worth it, and Hay sees the results in the big picture.
“I believe the biggest difference is the kids being prepared when they get there and understand what is expected of them, instead of going through the motions as a junior high and then making that jump,” Hay said. “We get to discuss with the kids what things are going to be like when they get to the high school.
“They understand it all more than they did before; that’s been a big difference since Coach Baugh has been around.”
