By T. Scott Boatright
It couldn’t have been scripted any better if it was a movie.
Ruston’s 44-7 semifinal Division I Select School playoff win Friday night at L.J. “Hoss” Garrett Stadium was an outstanding 3D performance — defense, drives, and Dylone — that helped the Bearcats get the “monkey” known as Destrehan off their backs.
Destrehan defeated the Bearcats 17-10 in the 2022 state title game and 24-10 in the 2021 semifinals.
But this time Ruston finally came out on the top, with the Bearcats defense playing a big role as they won the turnover battle 3-0, recovering two fumbles and making an interception that help them build a 14-0 advantage in the opening stanza as Trindon Moore snagged a Destrehan pass to set RHS up at its own 45.
Quarterback Josh Brantley guided the Bearcats to paydirt on a six-play drive that culminated with his 26-yard scoring scamper.
“They had some tempo early trying to go fast and Trindon just made a big — a great play right there,” said RHS defensive coordinator Kyle Williams. “Trindon has gotten better and better through the course of the season. I had a conversation with him the other day because he’s been practicing extremely well.
“He’s continued to show up and make plays in crucial situations and been grinding it out. He’s been a heckuva player for us and made a great play to swing the momentum right there.”
That kind of play was needed for the Bearcats’ defense after they lost LSU signee Aiden Anding right off the bat. Anding didn’t return and was in street clothes by game’s end.
“To have our young guys come in and not miss a beat was really special in a situation like that,” Williams said. “We coach Aiden the same way we coach the freshmen, so the younger guys are expected to perform and get after it. They’re held accountable so when a situation like that arises, it’s not a freak out.
“Darius (Woods) has done a great job, Terry Lewis has done a fantastic job over the course of the year, so I’m really, really happy and proud of them.”
While admitting he wanted the shutout, that didn’t stop Williams from playing his backups and allowing Destrehan to get their lone score shortly before the final horn sounded.
“Getting our young guys in there, getting our freshman linebacker in there, and getting some guys who have played great for the program some rest was important, because we work them really hard.
“But we just don’t play games where we’re not challenged, so blowouts are few and far between and we usually have to keep those guys in there, so having the opportunity to get the young guys in there late — the touchdown to me was inconsequential.”
Williams said he was proud of the way his team faced the quick tempo the Wildcats played with for much of the contest.
“We saw that they did that periodically, so we knew they might do that,” Williams said. “We’ve seen pretty much every type of offense we could imagine, so I don’t think anything would necessarily catch us crazy off guard. But you still have to go out and execute and perform and our guys did that tonight.”
Senior defensive lineman Payton Bell was one of the defensive Bearcats who executed well throughout the game.
“We just stayed focused and stuck to the game plan — knowing where you’re supposed to be and trusting everyone around you,” Bell said. “And it worked well. Hopefully we can do it again next week.”
Bell said finally getting a win over a team like Destrehan, which the Bearcats haven’t done, including in the 2022 state championship game, was something the team not only wanted, but needed.
“It feels amazing,” Bell said. “My freshman and sophomore year we played against them and suffered some hard losses. But I think that this senior group had a lot of built up anger against them and I think we let that all out tonight.
“But we have one more game left and hope we can finish it out with a win.”
Defensive drive wasn’t the only thing fueling the Bearcats.
Ruston’s offense stuck to old-fashioned, Chick Childress era smashmouth football, grinding out yardage on the ground and chewing time off the clock from start to finish, including the game’s opening drive when they the Bearcats marched 65 yards on 11 plays, culminated with Dylone Brooks’ eight-yard scoring scamper at the 7:24 mark of the opening stanza.
“We told the offensive line on Monday that if we could run behind them and move the ball, we were going to stay behind them and keep on doing it,” said RHS offensive coordinator Earl Griffin. “We know all about Destrehan and had revenge on our mind.
“The offensive line worked hard all week and came out here and took care of business and controlled the line of scrimmage. That’s all we needed.”
Griffin admitted defeating Destrehan was something he needed as much as his players did.
“We haven’t beaten them going back to 2013,” Griffin said. “I’ll admit we secretly wanted those guys to win at Airline last week so we could get a chance at them here in Ruston. The team executed what they needed to do, and off to New Orleans we go.”
Brooks played a big role in Ruston’s win, leading the Bearcats with 108 rushing yards on nine carries and scoring two touchdowns, the second of which which was a 47-yarded that culminated with him launching himself at about the 4-yard line and grabbed air horizontally, stretching the ball over the left pylon for the score that put Ruston up 21-0 with 5:50 remaining in the first half.
“Dylone has always been on the verge of breaking out, but every now and then he kind of second guesses himself. But he came to practice on Monday with the mindset that he wasn’t going to be stopped and that carried on over into tonight.”
Brooks said only one thought was flashing through his head as he broke open and raced to paydirt.
“I was just looking at that pylon,” Brooks said. “I knew that I had just had to focus on that pylon, because if I got there that would be a touchdown.”
Brooks said that while the Bearcats did get frustrated with their district season losses to Alexandria and Neville, their focus was strong in the playoff with only one singular thought.
“We had to get back to the Dome — that would make those losses not matter anymore,” Brooks said. “We weren’t supposed to lose those games and we shouldn’t have. We were just unfocused. That cost us those two games.
“So in the playoffs, we knew we had to start focused and stay that way until we lift the championship trophy in the Superdome.”
