by Malcolm Butler
When the Ruston Bearcats walked off the field after losing 40-36 at Alexandria Senior High on October 25, there were plenty of questions surrounding the direction that the defending state champions may take with back-to-back losses.
However, since that loss, head coach Jerrod Baugh and Co. have played a dominating style of football in route to five straight wins by a combined score of 220-35.
There are plenty of reasons to point to for Ruston’s late season run and postseason success, but one of the biggest is the improved play of the Bearcats defensive line.
“We talked as a staff in the middle of the season around the Neville and ASH games where we were as a team,” said defensive line coach David Taylor. “We made some adjustments to how we practiced, and I think most people have seen the results from that.”
The results? Simply one-sided in favor of the Firmly Founded.
Since surrendering 40 points to ASH, 26 to Neville and 21 to Ouachita in a three-game stretch midway through the season, the Ruston defense has allowed a grand total of 35 points in its last five games, four of those coming against playoff opponents.
“At the mid-season mark we suffered two losses,” said senior defensive lineman Payton Bell. “We refocused in the week leading up to Pineville and ever since then its been all upwards. And now we are back in the state championship. I would give us an A for effort.”
How about an A+?
Although Baugh and defensive coordinator Kyle Williams credit the entirety of the defense for the late season run, the Bearcats front four are the key to this success.
“In football everything starts up front, whether we are talking about the offensive or defensive line,” said Williams. “I think we are in a good position where we have some playmakers on the back end from Zheric (Hill) to Aidan (Anding). A lot of those guys have made some great plays for us down the stretch.
“But if you are not able to reset the line of scrimmage, if you are not able to affect the quarterback … not necessarily sack the quarterback but affect him … you are going to have a tough time. I tell these guys all the time that the back ends best friend is the d-line and vice versa. We aren’t going to do all of these things every time on either end so it’s kind of a yin and yang thing.”
Ruston entered 2024 having lost Ahmad Breaux (LSU) and Geordan Guidry (Tulane) to graduation, leaving plenty of question marks surrounding its defensive line. And although returning starters Payton Bell and Ka’Varion Key had plenty of experience, there was still some growing pains that the Bearcats were going to face early in the year with a few younger guys.
“We felt like we had a chance to be really good on the defensive line,” said Baugh. “They just didn’t have a lot of experience early in the year. Payton (Bell) was a big part of helping stick all of that back together again after Ahmad and Geordan graduated.
“The way the schedule was set up we had to grow up pretty quick or we were going to take it on the chin. I think we put a lot of pressure on them to execute and do things the right way. I think they had to continue to grow or we were going to get beat.”
“We lost a lot of good football players from the defensive line from that state championship team,” said Taylor. “We had two returning starters to start our rebuilding process. We had a couple of kids who we thought would be able to replace (Breaux and Guidry). Maybe not quite as talented as what they were, but they had the work ethic and they knew what we expected from them.”
Despite a tough non-district schedule, the Bearcats were able to reel off five straight wins over the likes of Acadiana, Longview (Texas) and Stephensville (Texas). However, at times, Ruston was winning a little with smoke and mirrors and not in the same dominating defensive fashion of 2023.
“One of the things we talked about as a defensive staff in the summer and early in the year was trying to impart on them the growth mindset,” said Williams. “Continuing to improve throughout the year.
“We were shuffling guys in positions whether it was guys up front or on the back end. We stayed consistent with them about our effort every day. Our individual (drill) time every day. Our technique. With the message of let’s just get a little bit better today, a little bit better today, a little bit better today.
Ruston entered District 2-5A play by escaping Ouachita with a 22-21 victory thanks to a missed extra point by the Lions in the closing seconds. The next week saw the Bearcats fall at home to arch rival Neville 26-21. And then a 40-34 loss on the road at ASH.
Things weren’t clicking on all cylinders. In fact this Ruston ride needed a tune-up in a bad way.
After Baugh and his staff changed some things the following week at practice leading up to a whitewash of Pineville, the Bearcats began to purr once again. In the 49-0 win over Pineville, Ruston’s defense held the Rebels to just 93 total yards and seven first downs as the Ruston front four began to make things much more difficult in the trenches.
But that was Pineville. What would happen in the regular season finale at rival West Monroe? The answer was more of the same.
Ruston won 36-0 on a rainy night and held the Rebels — who would go on to advance to the state quarterfinals — to just 109 yards and five first downs.
Youngsters like Ra’keem Potts and Kaleb Williams began teaming up with Bell and Key to win the line of scrimmage on snap after snap.
“They have been disruptive lately,” said Kyle Williams. “We knew coming into the year that maybe we needed to do a few different things just because of what the good Lord gave them. They are skilled in a different way then the guys that have been here in the past. You saw the guys who (graduated) last year … good grief. They were big strapping kids.
“These guys are gifted in that they are fast and athletic and can move and attack and are competitive. When you have those things going on, you can make some things happen. We just needed to reconfigure things in a way that accentuated what they do well. I think they know what their strengths are so they have really bought into doing what we are doing.”
After a bye week in the opening week of the playoffs, the Bearcats have faced three straight teams that were putting up impressive offensive numbers coming into the match-ups with Ruston.
Against a Zachary team that had scored 40 or more points in five of their previous six games, Ruston held the Broncos in check in a 42-21 victory. Zachary tailback Da’Vekia Ruffin had rushed for over 600 yards and 12 TDs in his previous TWO games, but Ruston limited him to 164 yards on 25 carries in the win while forcing three turnovers.
The following week saw the Bearcats destroy a Southside team that had beaten Live Oak 42-10 and Walker 47-0 in its first two playoff wins. Ruston held Southside to 115 total yards and seven first downs and kept their star running back Ramon Singleton to 28 yards and 10 carries.
“To play as well as we are now, I just think they have continuously grown between coaches pushing them to do things right and their willingness to accept the coaching and get out there and work,” said Baugh. “We thought they had it in them before the season and I think they have just grown and have figured it out.”
However, Ruston may have saved its best defensive performance for last week. In its 44-7 win over Destrehan, the Bearcats stonewalled a talented Wildcat offense that possessed both the ability to beat teams on the ground and through the air.
Ruston allowed just 245 total yards and held tailback Malachi Dabney (who had 600 yards and 11 TDs in three playoff wins) to just 44 yards and 12 carries.
“The results come because they work hard during the week,” said Kyle Williams. “They have done a really good job over the last five or six weeks of showing up on Monday, diving into game plans, and going out there and getting after the other team.”
If you ask the Ruston defensive linemen what the biggest improvement has been from Week 1 to entering this playoff run, they point to their togetherness.
“The biggest improvement from the beginning (of the year) is we have become closer,” said Bell. “We stand on the brotherhood that we have. As long as I have been here, the one thing that we have always stood on is brotherhood, brotherhood, brotherhood. As the season has gone one, we have tried to become closer as a team and I think it shows out on the field.”
And now these Bearcats are one win shy of making school history.
“We have put in a lot of work this season to get here,” said Potts.
