By Kyle Roberts
ALVAREDO, Texas — Ruston High (3-0) takes its unblemished 2025 record a few hours west on I-20 tonight to take on Midland Legacy (1-3) for the first of two neutral site contests over the next eight days to round out the non-district schedule slate.
And for Ruston High Head Coach Jerrod Baugh, these young Bearcats are already impressing with their early season progress, despite more work to do.
“I think we’re further along than where I thought we’d be at this point,” Baugh said. “I was initially unsure how we would handle some inexperience, and they’ve done well up to this point. I think we’ve got a lot of room for improvement, but I do think our coaches and players are doing a good job. We’re all trying to continuously improve.”
The Bearcats are coming off of last-second win over a very talented Longview High School team last week 38-35. Following a critical defensive stand late in the fourth quarter, the Bearcat offense drove the ball down the field to set junior Joaquin Ramos up a 20-yard field goal as time expired and keep the early perfect season alive.
“I think I was probably most pleased that we were able tin all three phases of the game (and twice in the kicking game) to be able to execute what we needed to do in order to win the game,” Baugh said. “You looked, and there’s half of the fourth quarter left. We had the ball, and we weren’t able to get a first down. We had a 51-yard punt to pin them deep in their territory, and the defense gets a three-and-out stop on their end of the field. And then our offense gets the ball in a four-minute situation where you want to be the last one to possess it, and we’re in chrage of whether we in or go to overtime.
“The coaches did a good job managing the clock and make sure we didn’t have to use any unnecessary time outs. There was just a wide variety of of things that happened at the end of the game that you need to be able to execute to win.”
Baugh praised Ramos’ poise and experience as reasons he, and everyone else in the stadium, had faith the kick was going to go through for the win, even though this is his first season taking the charge with all kicking duties, including extra points and field goals (Jack Elliott had these duties last season).
“He’s been under some pressure situations in the kicking and punting game,” Ramos said. “He’s been to the state championship game for the last two season, so he was comfortable (Friday). I felt goot about it. To be honest, he’s done better with that part of his game than he has the stuff he had been doing (the past two years). I’m sure a lot of times guys like that who are experienced, they take that kind of for granted the things they’ve been doing, and they seem to focus more when you add something else to their plate. So I’ve been really comfortable putting him out there for field goals and extra points, for sure.”
Midland Legacy is coming off its first win of the season, beating Abilene 42-28 this past week after losing its first three games of the season. Last season, Ruston blew out the Rebels 38-6 in Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“I think they’re an underrated football team,” Baugh said. “I felt like last year, we jumped on them early and had an interception for a touchdown, got another interception and got up 17-0. I don’t think we played particularly well last year, and they year, they seem to be more experienced. Their quarterback is back, and he’s operating their offense really well, and they’ve played some tough competition. I think their record is probably a misnomer as far as how good a football team they are.
“I do feel like if we get out and execute and play like we can, we should have an opportunity to win the ball game. We don’t need to underestimate anybody just by looking at the record that somebody has.”
Kickoff in Charles Head Stadium is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Q94.1FM and BearcatNationNetwork.com. For Bearcat fans with season tickets, this game is included in the season ticket package.
