By Kyle Roberts
MONROE, La. — The Ruston-Neville rivalry has had nearly a century of magic.
What could be more fitting for the 100th matchup than to see a 21-point comeback win with under nine minutes left to play as Ruston (6-1; 2-0 District 2-5A) stunned Neville 41-37 (4-3; 1-1 District 2-5A) in a night nobody at either school will ever forget.
“There wasn’t much going right,” Ruston High Head Coach Jerrod Baugh said of the first three quarters for his Bearcats. “We found a way to screw up quite a few things offensively. You know, the thing that happened in the first half was as much as we struggled offensively, the defense played their butts off and kept us in the ball game. We really probably should have been down by way more than ten points at halftime. And Neville just couldn’t stretch the lead because I think our defense continued to get after it.
“The teams that execute under those circumstances win ball games, and it doesn’t matter what all has transpired before. Once you get in that position, you just need to execute what we’ve worked on. And regardless of how bad we’ve played in a lot of different areas, our kids executed down the stretch whenever they needed to win the ballgame.”
Down 37-20 with 8:40 left to play, Ruston was staring a loss in the face as Neville had the ball 1st and 10 on the Ruston 22-yard line following a Bearcat interception. In what could only happen in a Ruston-Neville matchup, Tiger sophomore Jarvis Blackston fumbled the ball which then bounced all the way into the end zone for a touchback for Ruston.
And the Bearcats began a rally for the ages— starting with a five-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped off by a 64-yard touchdown drive by sophomore Dalen Powell to cut Neville’s lead to 37-27 with 6:13 left to go.
The Bearcats would recover the ensuing onside kick after a perfect one-hopper by junior Joaquin Ramos that was recovered by junior Hayden Clark on Neville’s 45-yard line. Six plays later, junior quarterback Sam Hartwell ran in a seven-yard touchdown to put the score at 37-34 with 5:26 left.
After struggling for most of the night, the Bearcats’ defense forced Neville into a three-and-out and a punt, and Ruston began its game-winning drive with 3:22 left to go in the game.
Hartwell put together multiple quarterback keepers and key completions to milk the clock and put the Bearcats in striking distance with under 30 seconds left to play.
And while Neville’s defense was keyed on junior tight end Ahmad Hudson for good reason, junior wide receiver Josiah Morgan found himself wide open over the middle of the field for his second touchdown grab of the night to put Ruston up 41-37 and for the win.
The defenses for both teams came out firing and held both respective offenses to three-and-out to force a punt.
A bad bounce on a Bearcat punt set the Tigers up at the Ruston 44-yard line with 9:46 to go in the first. A few plays later, Neville struck first with a 27-yard field goal by Brooks Yerger to put Neville up 3-0.
The Tigers would force a fumble on third down on Ruston’s following drive to get solid position to set up their first touchdown drive of the night. A three-yard touchdown by sophomore tailback Jarvis Blackston with 4:46 to go in the first quarter put Neville up 9-0 after a missed point-after.
Ruston would be forced to punt again on the ensuing drive, but a 41-yard pick-sick by junior Bearcat linebacker Kadyn Gray gave the Bearcats a shot in the arm early to cut the lead to 9-6 (Ruston’s extra-point attempt was blocked).
Neville would extend the lead after Ramos pinned the Tigers back all the way to the three-yard line. On third-and-11, junior quarterback Parker Robinson for Neville threw two terrific passes to both sophomore Desi Byrd and then senior Zeland Young for big chunk plays to extend a scoring drive. Senior Jamarion Roberson would score from 15 yards out with 7:37 to go before halftime to put Neville up 16-6.
The Bearcats answered after Morgan scored his first touchdown of the night with a 64-yard score after a perfect throw up the seam by Hartwell just under a minut later to cut the lead to 16-13.
Ruston’s defense would turn Neville over on downs for the second time of the night, but the offense, unfortunately would not be able to get anything going and punted back to Neville with 2:02 to go before halftime. On the first play of the drive, Robinson hit junior wide out Emaude Sledge for an 84- yard touchdown to go up 23-13 heading into the halftime locker room.
The Bearcats would receive the opening kickoff of the second half, trailing by only 10 points. A fumble by Ruston on the exchange between quarterback and running back gave Neville great field position. The Bearcat defense, however, stopped Neville just shy of the goal-line on fourth down, only for a questionable lateral call on the next play by Hartwell to lead to a Neville touchdown after what appeared to be a forward pass. The Tigers recovered teh ball in the end zone to go up 30-13 with 7:11 to go in the third.
Ruston again stayed in the ball game after Powell scored from 28 yards away with 1:35 to go in the third quarter to cut Neville’s lead to 30-20. The Tigers answered shortly after with the second touchdown from Sledge through to air with 9:56 left to go for Neville’s 37-20 lead before Ruston’s magical comeback.
“It’s easy for me to say now that we won the ball game, but if you if you take 100 years of this rivalry that’s been so close, I think on the 100th ball game it was very fitting the way that it turned out,” Baugh said. “I think, you know, not necessarily us winning — I’m just saying the competitiveness and the way the game went, I just think that it’s a great indication of how this rivalry has gone. And for that to be the hundredth one, I mean, that’s that’s pretty special.”
For the night, Neville outrushed Ruston 157 yards to 80, while Hartwell threw for 328 yards compared to Robinson’s 291. Ruston turned the ball over four times compared to Neville’s one.
Powell finished with 66 yards rushing and one touchdown on the ground. Hudson led the team with 125 yards receiving, while Morgan totaled 96 yards through the air with two touchdowns.
Defensively, senior linemen Ra’Keem Potts and Keegan Goldsmith along with sophomore linebacker Aiden Adams all totaled nine tackles on the night, with Potts adding a sack.
The Bearcats will return to action Friday, Oct. 24, at home to take on Alexandria Senior High. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
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