By Kyle Roberts
ALEXANDRIA, La. — There was no doubt it would be a high-scoring contest Friday in Alexandria.
Unfortunately for the Ruston Bearcats (6-2, 1-2 District 2-5A), the Alexandria Senior High Trojans (8-0, 3-0 District 2-5A) had just enough firepower to secure the lead in the fourth quarter and get the victory 40-36, giving Ruston its second consecutive loss of the season.
”I thought our kids played as hard this game as they have all season, and that’s what I told them afterwards,” Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “If we make a play here or there, we have an opportunity to get the ball and score. We just didn’t make the plays necessary throughout the ballgame. And ASH did.
”It’s not that we didn’t make some good play; you’ve just got to make a bunch of them whenever you’re playing a good football team like that.”
Ruston High gave up the go-ahead touchdown on a 21-yard touchdown reception to senior tight end Tanner Townsend, who made a great grab simultaneously with Bearcat cornerback Fabian Stringfellow with 3:22 left to go. The Bearcats converted multiple first downs on their final drive before coming up short on a fourth-down run in Trojan territory.
All this came after ASH went up two scores in the third quarter 27-14. Ruston High stormed back with two consecutive touchdown drives — first with a touchdown catch by senior tight end Cullen Clark with 2:46 to go in the third quarter.
The Bearcats defense forced the only turnover of the night when senior defensive Payton Bell tackle busted up a trick play by hitting Trojan senior wide receiver Jimmie Duncan on a wide-receiver pass, leading to an interception by senior defensive back Aidan Anding.
The Bearcats got back into the end zone at the start of the fourth quarter when senior linebacker Zheric Hill rushed it in from two-yards out.
The teams traded touchdowns again when senior Darrius Washington scored for ASH with 9:40 left to play.
Ruston drove the ball back down the field and capped the drive off with a 17-yard touchdown run with 7:03 to play by senior Jordan Hayes, who finished with three touchdowns on the night. A two-point conversion catch by sophomore Ahmad Hudson put Ruston up 36-33.
But once ASH got that final touchdown of the night, Ruston High was not able to find the end zone again.
”You get stretched out two scores against a good football team like that, and you spend so much energy getting yourself back into the game that you kind of run out of gas,” Baugh said.
The Trojans started with a very run-high attack, leaning on senior running back JT Lindsey early. The Bearcat defense, however, was able to capitalize on a couple of ASH penalties and held the Trojans to a turnover on downs.
Ruston would respond with a 71-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run by Hayes with 4:27 to go in the first. The eight-play drive took nearly five minutes off the clock.
ASH responded with a touchdown long drive, set up by a 54-yard pass on third down by sophomore Karsen Sellers to sophomore Alex Fontenot. Lindsey punched in for his first touchdown of the first half with a one-yard run with 2:06 to go in the first.
Following a Ruston punt, the Trojans put in sophomore Max Gassiott at quarterback to keep the ground game going, but the Bearcat defense forced another turnover on downs with 8:39 to go in the second quarter.
”It was good to control the ball on offense,” Baugh said. “The times we didn’t put drives together, we were three-and-out. That’s what we can’t do. We needed to put some first downs together, and we weren’t able to do that at critical times.
”But I think we’ve got something to build on. We’ve got to practice like that now.”
The Bearcats out-rushed the Trojans 298 to 179 with Hayes finishing with 143 yards on the ground.
Senior quarterback Josh Brantley threw 10-of-17 completions for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Ruston returns to action for homecoming night against Pineville on Friday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
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