By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — It was a night where it felt like nothing went right for Ruston High.
In a rivalry game where tempers were high at times, Neville (7-0, 2-0 District 2-5A) did enough to get the 26-21 win over the Bearcats (6-1, 1-1 2-5A) in Ruston’s first game back in Hoss Garrett Stadium in well over a month.
And 13 penalties for 137 yards by the Ruston Bearcats certainly didn’t help.
“This was the second week in a row we got outplayed by our opponent,” Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “(Penalties) have been hurting us all year. We played a really good football team, and when they’re executing and we’re not, you can’t have those setbacks. We’ve got to get that cleaned up and do a better job in practice and as coaches to get those things going before it starts to snowball on us.”
First quarter penalties against Ruston (including three personal foul penalties on Neville’s first drive of the night) spelled a gloomy first half for the Bearcats, though senior Josh Brantley found the end zone with three seconds to go in the first half from 70 yards out after senior Aidan Anding intercepted a pass from Parker Robinson as Neville was driving on its first drive.
Neville quickly got on the scoreboard in the second quarter after starting the ensuing drive on the Bearcat 46-yard line with a 31-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Thomas Campbell with 10:18 to go in the half. After the teams traded punts, Neville scored with 44 seconds to go before halftime with Campbell’s second touchdown reception of the quarter to give Neville a 14-7 lead.
It was the first time Ruston had trailed since the first half against Longview back in week three 10-7 at halftime.
Ruston would get a drive extension by senior quarterback Josh Brantley with 1:51 to go in the third with a big four-yard rush inside the red zone. Brantley would punch it in shortly after from two yards out to tie the game 14-14 with 1:00 to go in the third quarter.
Neville’s junior Jayden Reed returned the very next kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown to go up 20-14 with 49 seconds to go in the third. Neville attempted a two-point conversion following another Ruston penalty, but was held out of the end zone.
Ruston took the lead back with a 7-yard touchdown run by senior linebacker Zheric Hill with 9:19 left to play. Senior Jack Elliott stayed perfect on the season with a 35-yard point-after kick following a Bearcat unsportsmanlike penalty to lead 21-20.
Neville got the go-ahead touchdown with 5:37 left to play as senior tailback Jaylon Nichols scored from five yards away.
”We’ve got a lot of things we need to clean up if we’re going to be as good of a team as we can be, and we’ll start at square one,” Baugh said. “I feel like our coaches have done a good job of going in, watching video and knowing what things we need to work on. I just don’t think we’re being diligent about showing up to practice with the right attitude about getting out there and making the corrections necessary to play well every weekend.
”It’s pretty disappointing that we have guys in the right spot tonight to make play, and we just didn’t make the plays we needed.”
Brantley finished with 13-of-18 passing for 146 yards. Bearcat sophomore Ahmad Hudson made some spectacular catches for 93 yards total.
For the night, Ruston only converted 4-of-11 third downs, while Neville converted 8-of-12, including the game sealing rush on third down by Nichols on 3rd and five.
The loss is Ruston’s first official one since the state championship game in 2022. The 20-game win streak was snapped just one shy of Ruston’s all-time record set back in the 1980’s.
For the rivalry, Neville now leads the all-time series 51-45 with three times. The teams have played every year since 1931.
Ruston returns to action Friday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. at Alexandria Senior High School to continue district play.
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