By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Following an exciting week one win, the 2024 Ruston High Bearcats (1-0) will remain at home for the second straight week to take on the Cabot Panthers from Cabot, Ark.
The matchup will be the first of four-straight weeks where Ruston will play an out-of-state opponent.
And despite the win, Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh has hoped that his team has focused after a rough start to the week in practice.
“It wasn’t a very good week, to be honest,” Baugh said. “I don’t know if its some hangover from winning a really big ball game– I don’t know if that bled over into this week or what, but we did not have particularly good preparation early in the week. It has gotten better as the week has gone on. I thought (Thursday) was good. We just hope the kids are taking care of the things they need to mentally, and hopefully we’re ready to play tonight.
“It’s always a learning process on how to handle big wins or losses and being able to move on from that. And you’ve got to be able to move one way or the other, whether it’s good or bad. So, hopefully, we’ve kind of learned our lesson as the week has gone on, and we hope that we don’t have to learn it the hard way.”
Ruston’s 35-27 victory Friday night over Acadiana was helped in large part by senior quarterback Josh Brantley, who threw for 195 yards with two touchdowns through the air and 11 rushes for 160 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.
“Josh did really well,” Baugh said. “His attitude and leadership have grown– that’s what’s really pushing a lot of those things. At the end of last year, he got more and more comfortable with things we were asking him to do. And going into this season, he just picked up where he left off.”
Another bright spot for the Bearcats was a young defense that held its own against an historically proficient offense in the Wreckin’ Rams at the end of the game to solidify the win.
Baugh also talked about all sides of the football, including special teams, and the plan to address any inconsistencies from last week.
“Anytime you play really good competition, it puts a magnifying glass on the things that you need to continue to improve on,” Baugh said. “Our consistency is not where it needs to be. We go out one series and look really good, and then the next, not as good. That’s the biggest thing. We weren’t very good on our team at all, and that’s something that we have really focused on this week to try to make sure we get it corrected. We’re headed in that direction.”
Cabot won a squeaker Friday night in overtime at Bentonville West High School 44-38. Ruston has beaten Cabot for the last two seasons in a row — first in 2022 by a final score of 17-14 with a Bearcat field goal as time expired, and then on the road in 2023 by a final score of 28-17.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on Q94.1 FM and at BearcatNationNetwork.com.
