By Kyle Roberts
PINEVILLE, La. — Five first-half touchdowns and a minimal amount of mistakes propelled the Ruston Bearcats (7-2, 3-1 District 2-5A) over the Pineville Rebels (4-5, 0-4 District 2-5A) 56-6 and keep the Bearcats in the hunt for a district title.
“I told our kids that we have been inconsistent with how we pracitce and how we’ve played all year, regardless of who our opponent was — it really didn’t make any difference,” Ruston High Head Coach Jerrod Baugh said. “We need to steady that up going into the playoffs, and so that was our goal coming into this. I think we played efficiently in all three phases of the ballgame, and at this point in the season, that what you’ve got to see.”
The Bearcats, too, had zero penalties on the night and only one turnover that led to the lone Pineville touchdown right at the end of the second quarter.
“(No penalties is) great to see at this point in the season, too,” Baugh said. “In a ballgame like this where the score gets lopsided, a lot of times you have a stuff going on and a lack of focus that leads to penalties. I thought our kids did an excellent job of continuing to stay focused, and that’s really been what we’ve stressed all week. We took care of what we needed to.”
Ruston scored on its first five drives of the night, starting with a 17-yard touchdown by senior running back Jeremiah Freeman with 6:37 to play in the first quarter.
Junior Ahmad Hudson got on the board with an 18-yard touchdown from junior quarterback Sam Hartwell with 3:12 on the clock in the first after the Bearcat defense forced another Pineville punt.
Hartwell would then score three consecutive touchdowns for the ‘Cats — all in the second quarter. First with an option quarterback keeper from 14 yards out with 9:46 to go in the half, then a one-yard touchdown after recovering a fumble on the exchange with the running back at the 5:59 mark, and then a seven yard touchdown with 3:37 to go before the half.
Unofficially, Hartwell would finish with 38 yards rushing and three scores while throwing for 160 yards and completing all 11 of his passes.
Ruston would be up 35-0 near the end of the first half before a turnover by the second-string offense led to Pineville’s only score of the day. The Bearcats would block the extra point and be up 35-6 at halftime.
The Bearcats took little time in the third quarter to get to a running clock situation after senior fullback Lander Smith scored at the 9:43 mark from two yards out to put Ruston up 42-6.
Sophomore Kohl Gray would score his first touchdown of the season with a 15-yard scamper with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter, putting Ruston up 49-6 and starting a running clock scenario for the rest of the night.
The Bearcat defense also grabbed a pair of interceptions: first by junior Keilan Davis with 4:42 to go in the third, and then sophomore Holt Hunt grabbed one and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown with 6:12 to play to put Ruston up 55-6.
The Bearcats were without sophomore running back Dalen Powell tonight, but the running back committee of Freeman, Kohl and Davis DeMoss totaled 145 yards from scrimmage.
“It was a great opportunity for those guys to get some live reps in a situation where they were with the first group and a great opportunity to get some quality reps,” Baugh said.
Ruston returns to action Friday, Nov. 7, at home to take on the West Monroe Rebels, who just lost to Neville 22-19 tonight.
For Baugh, the team will have to quickly turn the page on the win tonight and get ready for the season finale.
“We need to flush this one pretty quickly,” Baugh said in conclusion. “Tomorrow, when we show up, we’ll go through and watch some video and make some corrections and build off the things that went well. Then we’ll change our focus pretty quickly, because we know West Monroe’s a really good football team. That’s obvious, and they’re going to come over to our place ready to play, and it’ll be a great indication of where we are Week 10 going into the playoff run.
“To be honest, we need to take care of that ballgame so that we’re guaranteed a bye going into the playoffs. I think we need that be to get one more week to be completely healthy going into a second-round ballgame.”
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