by Malcolm Butler

Life without Taylor Martinez.

That is what the Cedar Creek Lady Cougars are trying to figure out.

Part of that new world occurred Saturday when the Lady Cougars fell 54-34 to Class 5A Neville at the Origin Bank Classic held at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Martinez, the senior point guard for Creek, suffered a season-ending knee injury during a tournament at St. Thomas More just over a week ago. And the loss has been felt ever since with Creek dropping three straight games.

“I told our kids (after the game) that this is a tough schedule,” said head coach Katie Hall, whose team has played five higher classification opponents thus far. “It’s going to be ugly right now. We are just going to need some time to figure things out. 

“We are going to eventually be fine. We were ugly at this time last year. And it was ugly two years ago during this time. We are just going to have to get through it.”

Creek (1-4), who advanced to the Select School Division IV state title game a year ago and who entered this season as one of the favorites to possibly return, found itself facing an athletic, speedy Neville Tiger team Saturday. Neville found a way to put consistent pressure on the ball while also slowing down Cedar Creek post player Ryan Avery for much of the game with double and triple teams and match-up zones.

It worked. 

The Lady Cougars stayed close for the opening eight minutes, trailing just 13-11 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a pair of buckets by junior Alivia Lee and a three-pointer from senior Caroline James.  Creek remained within striking distance early in the second quarter as a Ryan layup with 6:10 in the frame tied it at 15-15 and a Kennedy Hall layup less than a minute later knotted it again, 17-17.

However, Neville used a 10-0 run over the next five minutes, capitalizing on turnovers by the Lady Cougars. 

“I’m not down on us,” said Hall. “I’m not frustrated with us. It’s just going to take some time to figure it out. We haven’t had a chance to really practice much without Taylor. We need some time in the gym to rep it out.”

With the loss of Martinez, James and junior Mary Grace Hawkins will be looked upon to pick up the bulk of the point guard responsibilities moving forward. 

“They are both going to have to get used to a different role,” said Hall. “They are very capable. It may not play to their strengths, but we are adapting. They are just going to have to keep working through the muck.”

The third quarter saw Neville pull away as the Tigers opened on a 9-0 run to extend it’s 27-19 halftime lead out to 36-19 with 5:20 to play in the stanza. A Hall field goal stopped the run but then Neville answered with a quick 6-0 run to build a 42-21 lead.

“I honestly think we are still processing everything,” said Hall. “We need some time as a team. I know we play again Monday. I feel like we need to talk about it and get all of our feelings and thoughts out. This is not do or die right now. Is it what we want? No. 

“It’s adversity. And our goals and our standards don’t change. The path may look different, but the destination is still the same.”

Ryan led Creek with 12 points while Lee added seven. 

 

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by Malcolm Butler

Trey Kukuk and Andrew Burnette combined for 304 yards rushing and five TDs as Louisiana Tech bullied its way past Missouri State in cold, windy, rainy conditions Saturday afternoon at Plaster Stadium in Springfield.

With the win, Tech (7-5, 5-3 CUSA) secured its first winning season since 2019 as it now awaits which postseason bowl the Bulldogs will be playing in this year.

“At the beginning of the week, we knew this game was going to be gritty, grimy, ‘who wants it more’ type of game just because of what the weather looked like, and the weather was that and more than we expected,” said head coach Sonny Cumbie. “Our players were excited from the moment we hit the field here and had phenomenal energy in pregame. They were really excited to be here, and that showed in how they fought and how they competed.”

Tech, which rushed for 388 yards and averaged 7.6 yards per carry, set the tone from the very outset of the ball game. After the Bulldogs defense forced a punt on Missouri State’s first possession, Tech started on its own two-yard line.

On the first play from scrimmage, Burnette took the handoff, stutter stepped in the endzone, and then ran off right tackle, racing 98 yards untouched to the endzone for a 7-0 lead. The run was the second longest in program history behind only Kenneth Dixon’s 99-yard run against UL-Lafayette (2014).

After Tech forced another punt, the Bulldogs marched 85 yards on 11 plays as Burnette scored on a 1-yard plunge early in the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-0. 

The Bears (7-5, 5-3) scored 10 straight points in the second quarter and closed the gap to 14-10 at the half as the two teams continued to battle in tough elements that saw cold rain come down, much of the time sideways due to the strong winds. 

“The elements-our kids didn’t blink,” said Cumbie. “As our friend, Lane Burroughs, likes to say, we dominated the elements today.”

Both teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter as Kukuk, who rushed for a program record (by a QB) 178 yards, scored on a 2-yard run as the Bulldogs entered the final quarter leading 21-17.

The fourth quarter was full of big plays. 

Kukuk’s second 2-yard TD run upped the lead to 28-17 before Missouri State answered with a 75-yard scoring strike on a busted coverage in the Tech secondary. On the ensuing kickoff, Devin Gandy capitalized on outstanding blocking and sprinted 93 yards down the near sideline for a score as Tech once again led by two scores (35-23). 

“A couple weeks ago, we moved Clay [Thevenin] into the starting kickoff returner role, and Devin stayed the course,” said Cumbie. “We kept him at it, and he got his opportunity tonight. A great job by our wedge and frontline guys, and then Devin taking it. There’s not a better time for a kick return than what we had tonight.”

Missouri State wasted little time in responding, driving 75 yards on just six plays in 2:31 to close the Tech lead to 35-30 with 6:44 to play. 

With the game still in doubt, Tech’s offense went to work. Kukuk hit Eli Finley for 17 yards on a big third down play to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Kukuk faked the handoff, ran off left tackle, and raced 58 yards down the sideline for his third score of the game.

“I think you can’t say enough about Trey Kukuk and our offense and the way we ran the football,” said Cumbie. “388 yards against the number one rush defense in our conference. You score 42 points on the road in these types of conditions. I think it’s a testament to the progression of our team offensively as the season has gone on and how much better we’ve gotten and finding our identity with Trey at quarterback.”

Missouri State had one last opportunity to get back into the game. However, Jakari Foster recorded his nation-leading seventh interception of the season and the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock for the win.

“Defensively, it wasn’t our best outing but when they needed it, Jakari Foster was there for another takeaway,” said Cumbie. “We got pressure on Jacob Clark. We talk about it all the time, tips and overthrows we have to have those, and we were able to do that with Jakari.”

The Bulldogs defense registered eight tackles for loss, four sacks, and the 20th interception of the year in the win.

 

 

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By Kyle Roberts

RUSTON, La. — The first game of the inaugural Origin Bank Classic was entertaining on many counts for the fans in attendance, though, unfortunately for Ruston High (3-1), the Lady Bearcats suffered their first loss of the season to Oak Grove (3-2) by a final score of 61-53 as five-star center Caroline Bradley scored the vast majority of the points for the Lady Tigers in the Thomas Assembly Center.

“I felt like the girls came out, and we started off playing hard,” Ruston High Head Coach LaShanda Cooper said. 
”There were some things that occurred in the game that kind of took us off track. We wanted to look at taking more charges and and things like that and just being a little bit more physical with (Bradley), but a lot of ticky-tack fouls were called early, so it kind of made our girls shy away from the game plan a little bit. But overall, I think the girls played hard. 
We hit some key shots. We just got we got away from the game plan.”

Ruston took an early 5-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to shots from both junior Angelica Green and sophomore Jayleen Spann in the first minute. Bradley would score her first basket a few minutes later to cut Ruston’s lead to 7-4 with 3:53 to go in the first quarter.

The Lady Bearcats got a second three-pointer in the first quarter courtesy of junior Bailee Harrison, who finished with four three-pointers for the game overall.

Ruston stayed neck-and-neck with Oak Grove all the way through the first half, and with the Lady Bearcats down 28-26 in the final seconds of the second quarter, Green launched a half-court shot at the buzzer that swished through the net and got a raucous reaction from the crowd.

“She really stepped up today,” Cooper said of Green. “We’ve been pushing leadership, both vocally with her and with her actions. A lot of times she’s more of the action person. So she’s stepping into the role of being a vocal leader and being able to control the offense and facilitate the game for us on our end. It speaks volume to her growth and and what it is that we’re needing her to eventually become.”

Bradley’s 41 points was too much to overcome as the Lady Tigers outscored Ruston 16-10 in the fourth quarter to win.

Harrison led the Lady Bearcats in scoring with 17 points, while Green finished with 13.

The Lady Bearcats will be back in action Friday, Dec. 5, in an out-of-state matchup with El Dorado High School in Arkansas. Tip off is set for 6:00 p.m.

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RUSTON, La. — For 23 minutes, things looked pretty bleak for Ruston High Friday night.

Down two scores and almost headed into the halftime locker room, senior Jeremiah Freeman took a kickoff from his own 10-yard line 85 yards down the field to set Ruston up for on the Southside five-yard line. It started a string of 24 unanswered points by the Bearcats to eventually go on and win 38-28 and advance to the semifinals for the fourth straight season.

“Southside came up here ready to play,” Ruston High Head Coach Jerrod Baugh said. “We were getting outplayed in the first half, and really, there wasn’t a whole lot to say as far as adjustments. Really, we needed to execute what was being called and play hard. That’s what it amounted to. Our senior group wasn’t ready to let it go. 
They dug in and I challenged them at halftime too. I was like, if we don’t get some better effort out of some guys in the second half and execute butter, then it’d all be over after this ball game. And I think that meant a lot to those guys.”

It was a game where Southside appeared to be in total control — even outrushing Ruston 284 yards to 59 in the first half. But none of it mattered as Ruston began to take total control of the football game in the final two quarters to get the victory.

Ruston’s offense would start slowly after turning the ball over on downs with 9:49 to go in the first. Southside made the Bearcats pay quickly with a three-minute touchdown drive capped off by a 23-yard touchdown run by junior Justin Williams — his first of three scores in the half — with 7:05 to go in the period. After a botched snap on the point-after attempt, the Sharks led 6-0.

Ruston answered with a drive of their own and were aided in large part by senior fullback Lander Smith who caught a ball in the flat on a play action pass for 30 yards. Shortly after, junior Sam Hartwell scored from one yard out to give Ruston its first and only lead of the half 7-6 with 5:05 to go in the first.

Williams scored again on the next play from scrimmage with a 53-yard touchdown run. Junior quarterback Parker Dies scored on the two-point conversion to put Southside back up 14-7 with 4:55 on the clock in the first.

Following a Bearcat punt, Southside took over at their own 12-yard line. Two plays later, Dies would fumble the ball, and senior Trindon Moore would scoop it up and score to tie the game 14-14 with 1:35 to go in the first.

Southside added two more touchdowns in the second quarter, one by both Dies and Williams to lead 28-14 with 1:18 to go in the first half. Following Freeman’s kickoff return, junior Ahmad Hudson hauled a score in from three-yards away to cut the Southside lead to 28-21 going into the halftime locker room.

The Bearcats forced Southside to punt on the Sharks’ opening drive of the third quarter and a great return by senior Keilan Davis put Ruston on Southside’s 40-yard line at the 7:21 mark of the quarter. A few plays later, Hartwell would get his second score of the night — this time from 23-yards away to tie the game 28-28 with 5:55 to go in the period.

The defense again forced a Shark punt on the next offensive series and set Freeman up for a 43-yard wheel route touchdown reception to put the Bearcats back up 35-28 with 2:16 to go in the third.

Southside struggled again offensively and turned the ball over on downs early in the fourth quater. Ruston then put together a long drive of nearly five minutes to give junior kicker Joaquin Ramos a look on the far hash mark from 37-yards out for a field goal which split the uprights and put the Bearcats up 38-28 with 6:27 left to go.

“We’ve got confidence in what Joaquin can do, even though in pregame warmups, I don’t think he made hardly any field goals,” Baugh said. “We hadn’t done anything in cool weather to speak of, and then you get out here and it’s cold, and the ball comes off differently. So I think maybe he was getting adjusted to that (in warmups). But we’ve got a lot of confidence in him and knew he could make that.”

Now the Bearcats will face off with familiar postseason foe Zachary, who just upset defending champion Central on the road. It will be the fourth trip to the semifinals for Ruston in a row.

“I don’t know that people realize how tough it is to continue to win as many ball games as we win and the work that goes into it with kids and coaches and administration,” Baugh said. “I’m just proud for our kids to have that opportunity. We’ll need to have a great week of practice and hopefully be ready to play four quarters next Friday.”

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Hartwell led the Bearcats with 49 rushing yards on nine carries, thanks in large part to RHS taking advantage of that aggressive defense from the Sharks

“We have some read plays for him where if they chase on the back end he can just pull it and run it,” Griffin said about Hartwell’s night rushing the ball. “I don’t want to run Sam like I ran Josh (Brantley) last year, but as long as they’re in Cover 0 they have to account for the quarterback. And they didn’t and Sam knew if it was there, take it. Sam was asking for the ball, too. He wanted to run it.”

Freeman was certainly glad to see his number called on the TD pass play.

“That was part of the gameplan,” Freeman said. “We knew they were going to come out in a certain formation (Cover 0) and we knew that play was going to hit. All I had to do was step up and make a play and I did it,”

Freeman finished with 31 rushing yards on seven carries and said he was proud to get into Ruston’s offense mix this week.

“It was really important for me to do that,” Freeman said, “It was a role I should have took on earlier in the year but some complications happened and some things happened and I just had to lean on my team and hope that they would help me out. I really put all of my trust in my O-line.”

That was something Griffin appreciated seeing.

Ruston’s Ahmad Hudson added a pair of receptions for nine yards, including a 6-yard touchdown catch.

“I want a ring on my finger at some point,” Hudson said. “We came out flat and we knew we were better than that. We just had to focus and take care of business. I just put my trust in our coaches,” Hudson said. “Some of the plays we often call didn’t work, so we changed things up a bit and those things worked. It’s just about how the game is going and where you want to take it and finding ways to make that happen.

“Last week we ran two tight ends and that worked. Tonight we tried it and it didn’t work. So you just change things up sometimes.”

Griffin also pointed out Hudson’s blocking on the night, especially on Freeman’s touchdown catch.

“That’s the unselfish part of him that sometimes gets overlooked,” Griffin said. “At 6-8 and 225 pounds, all he has to do sometimes is just get in the way. And he draws double-coverage like on the touchdown pass to Freeman where he just kind of got in the way (of an attempted tackler).”

Hudson admits his height sometimes can make it tough to try and effectively block significantly shorter defenders.

“It’s pretty tough sometimes being so tall and I’ve got to get low to make the blocks,” Hudson said. “But I trust (RHS offensive line coach Brian Beck) and what he has done with our O-line in the past. He’s made me a much better player over the course from last year to this year and I’m going to continue to put my trust in him. We see it’s working, so we’re not going to go away from it.“

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by Malcolm Butler

While there were a few halftime adjustments — schematically — that helped top-ranked Ruston High’s second half defensive performance, it was mostly another type of adjustment that proved to be the key.

Specifically, an attitude one. 

Trailing by as many as two touchdowns late in the second quarter, Ruston (10-2) scored the final 24 points of the game to defeat the Sharks 38-28 and advance to next week’s NonSelect School Division I semifinal game against Zachary. 

The win was anything but easy. 

After watching No. 8 seed Southside run up and down the field to the tune of 251 yards and 28 points in the opening two quarters, the Bearcats D received the halftime message loud and clear.

“We were challenged (by the coaches) during halftime by Coach (Marcus) Yanaz and Coach (Jerrod) Baugh,” said Ruston defensive lineman Hunter Soto. “They challenged us to come out and put it on them.”

“We came out in the first half, and we weren’t playing the type of football that we usually play,” said defensive lineman Rakeem Potts. “The coaches came in at halftime and really got onto us. We came out in the second half and played Ruston football.”

The Bearcats defense looked lifeless in the first two quarters as Southside running back Justin Williams ran over, around and through the Ruston front seven to the tune of 182 yards (on 19 carries0 and three scores. The bowling ball tailback powered his way up the middle as the Sharks offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage for the opening 24 minutes.

“We had some real uncharacteristic mistakes from some guys particularly up front and with our linebackers,” said Baugh. “Part of it was adjusting to the speed of what Southside does. It’s just a different offense. 

“I thought our scout team did a really good job of trying to emulate it during the week, but it’s nothing like facing a team that spends months and months running it. And they are very good at running it.”

Baugh said that Southside’s early success put the Bearcats on their heels.

“They came out and bang, bang, bang … a few plays and were successful,” said Baugh. “I think we started guessing on what it was we were trying to do. You can’t do that with the style of offense they run. As soon as you start guessing … you see guys running it for touchdowns from long distances. We just got rattled and shook up, and weren’t really able to regroup until halftime.”

Despite all of Ruston’s struggles (on both sides of the football in the first two quarters), the Bearcats entered the halftime lockerroom trailing only 28-21. 

That’s when the messages were delivered as straight forward as possible.

“It wasn’t as much of a halftime adjustment as it was a chewing out and a reality check,” said Ruston defensive coordinator Marcus Yanaz. “It was ‘do you want your season to continue or do you want to be putting up equipment on Monday?’ 

“It was going to be one of those two things.”

The Ruston D chose the first of the two options.

“It was win or lose and go home,” said Potts of the mindset entering the third quarter. 

Ruston came out in a five-man defensive front in the third quarter, an adjustment from the opening 24 minutes, and it worked to perfection. Williams rushed for just 48 yards on 15 carries in the second half with his longest run covering seven yards.

“We started using a five-man front against their 31 personnel,” said Yanaz. “It worked out for us. But more than anything, our guys really just settled down.”

After rushing for 251 yards on 34 carries in the first half, Southside managed just 104 yards on 36 attempts in the third and fourth quarters.

The final nail came after Joaquin Ramos’ 37-yard field goal with just over 6 minutes to play gave the Bearcats a 38-28 lead. The Sharks got the football on their own 35 and spent the next 20 plays trying to march down the field as Ruston’s defense rallied to the ball carrier time after time, ultimately holding Southside on a fourth down and goal with 19 seconds to play to seal the victory.

“Southside stayed with their game plan of running the football,” said Baugh about the final possession. “Our defense did a really good job of tackling and making them eat up all of that clock. We ran them to fourth down three or four different times on that drive and it just ate the clock up.”

Ruston is now one win away from its fourth straight trip to the NonSelect School Division I title game thanks to a halftime attitude adjustment.

“We just weren’t mentally their in the first half,” said Soto. “But we came out and said, ‘We are not going down today. This isn’t going to be our last game with these seniors.'”

 

 

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Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications

After earning their sixth win last week, Louisiana Tech will look to secure its first winning season since 2019 with a road matchup today at Missouri State in Springfield, Mo.

The Bulldogs (6-5, 4-3 Conference USA) will look to spoil the Bears’ (7-5, 5-2 CUSA) senior day, who’s season ends today due to their FBS transition. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

Louisiana Tech and Missouri State will meet for the second time in program history Saturday in Springfield. The Bears lead the series 1-0 after defeating the Bulldogs 13-10 in 1987 in Ruston. This weekend marks the first meeting between the programs in 38 years and their first as FBS foes. Missouri State is in its first season as an FBS member.

LA Tech improved to 6-5 last Saturday after defeating Liberty 34-28 in overtime, while finishing 5-1 at Joe Aillet Stadium. The OT win marked the first for Cumbie at LA Tech, and the first time the Bulldogs have been bowl eligible under the fourth-year head coach.

The Bulldog defense intercepted four passes in the second half, all by Tech safeties Jakari Foster (two), Jacob Fields (one) and Michael Richard (one). Tech’s 19 interceptions this season are its most since 2017. Foster now has six on the year, tied for the fourth most in a single season in program history. He became the first Bulldog this season with multiple interceptions in a game and the first to do so since 2022.

It has been 11 years since a defensive back led the team in total tackles. Safety Jacob Fields currently leads the team with 86 stops. Kentrell Brice led the Bulldogs with 80 tackles in 2014.

The Bulldogs have now had two different quarterbacks rush for 100 yards or more in a game this season after Trey Kuku’s 143-yard performance. Before 2025, Tech had only one quarterback ever rush for more than 100 yards in a single game.

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By T. Scott Boatright

 

The Grambling State Tigers close out their season this weekend with the king of HBCU classics — the annual Bayou Classic game in New Orleans.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. today inside the Superdome in New Orleans.

Grambling enters the game at 7-4 while Southern stands at 1-10, but Grambling coach Mickey Joseph knows that records don’t count in this showdown.

“It’s a big-time game,” Joseph said Monday morning in New Orleans. “You’ve got to throw the records out the door. Southern’s got a very good football team. I know the record doesn’t indicate that, but  the records go out the door when you play this game.

“And the kids understand the magnitude of this game. We’re looking to come down here and put on a good show. So, we’re prepared. I think we’re healthy now, you know, for the most part, so I think we can put on a good show.”

Joseph likes his team position heading into the game.

“I want to make sure I take my hat off to my coaches and my players and my administration because we’ve all been on the same page this year,” Joseph said. “We lost some close ones, but to finish 8-4 and finish with the first winning season, in a game of this magnitude, it’s big.

“So, we’ve got to focus, and we’re got to finish. That’s what we’ve been talking about to the kids. You’ve got to focus when you come to this game. I break it down into two parts. You’ve got the event, and you’ve got the game. See, we can’t get and get involved with the event. So, we did one thing involving the living situation that I won’t get into, that makes me think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Joseph admits the relationship between the two schools is a love/hate situation, at least for three hours a year.

“I think the thing is, it’s family, and the family is divided for three hours,” Joseph said. “And then we come back and you’re family again. So, it’s the darnest thing in that it’s really not a hate rivalry. It’s a rivalry where, ‘This is where I went to school to, and this is my team and the same the other way,

“But at the end of the game, I watch my players, and my coaches, hug the Southern players and it’s unbelievable. It’s a beautiful sight being able to see that. We both share traditions, we both have legacy, but we’re both in the state of Louisiana. So, other than anybody else, we’ve got to pull for each other when you’re not playing against each other. So, we’re excited to have the opportunity to play a game of this magnitude. We’re going to come down and put on a good show.”

 

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by Malcolm Butler

Some of the top high school girls basketball players and teams in north Louisiana will be in action today when Cedar Creek plays host to the inaugural Origin Bank Classic on the campus of Louisiana Tech.

The eight-team, four-game event will take place at the Thomas Assembly Center and will follow the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs vs. Alcorn State (set for a 12 p.m. tipoff).

The eight teams participating will include Cedar Creek School, Ruston High School, Arcadia High School, West Monroe High School, Neville High School, Sterlington High School, Oak Grove High School, and Haughton High School.

“This event also represents more than basketball—it’s about growth, competition, and pride in North Louisiana girls’ basketball,” said Cedar Creek Head coach Katie Hall. “Competing on the Louisiana Tech campus is an honor for our program and a moment our players will remember for a long time.”

The high school games include Ruston High vs. Oak Grove (2:30 p.m.), Cedar Creek vs. Neville (4 p.m.), West Monroe vs. Haughton (5:30 p.m.) and Sterlington vs. Arcadia (7 p.m.).

All four games can be heard on KMLB 105.7 FM and 540 AM.

Tickets are $10 can be purchased at the door.

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A man wanted in Union Parish was arrested in Ruston after police responded to a disturbance at a Ruston restaurant.

Dejuan Allen, 52, of Ruston, was arrested at about 11 p.m. Nov. 21 after Ruston Police responded to a report of a disorderly man.

Police found Allen behind the counter in the kitchen area of a restaurant in the 600 block of South Trenton Street. Allen was exhibiting profuse perspiration and extreme paranoia.

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According to an officer’s report, Allen told police he had taken three grams of crack cocaine recently and six to seven grams of crack over a period of several hours. He also said that he was wanted on a warrant from Union Parish. The warrant was verified with the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Allen was taken to the Northern Louisiana Medical Center for treatment. After he was discharged, he was taken to the Lincoln Parish Detention Center and booked on a bench warrant from Third District Court in Union Parish.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.  

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Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications

Louisiana Tech will close out its home multi-team event today versus Alcorn State inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.

Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN+ with Malcolm Butler (PxP) and Dickie Crawford (Analyst) providing the call.

DJ Dudley’s game-winning floater with 1.4 seconds left gave LA Tech (3-2) the 75-73 victory over Indiana State this past Wednesday. The Bulldogs used a 19-1 run to end the first half and go into the locker room with a 37-26 lead.

The Sycamores erased their deficit, tying the contest on three separate occasions including at 73-73. However, Dudley sank the 4-footer, the first game-winning buck­et for LA Tech in the final two seconds of a contest since 2021 (Kenneth Lofton Jr. versus Colorado State in the NIT consolation game).

Alcorn State (1-7) notched its first victory of the season on Friday against Indiana State in LA Tech’s MTE, hanging on to defeat the Syca­mores 81-74. The Braves had as much as a 22-point lead in the second half, but without a late rally to get into the win column.

Prior to the victory, Alcorn State had lost sev­en straight to stiff competition, all coming on the road against Florida State, South Alabama, Minnesota, Maryland, Howard, LSU, and Okla­homa.

LA Tech leads the all-time series against Alcorn State, 3-0. Despite being just 150 minutes apart, LA Tech and Alcorn State have only faced each other three times on the hardwood.

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Rachael felt trapped.  She said, “I’m pretty stressed out and pretty anxious all the time.  I can’t even have peace.  I’m so exhausted.  I hope this gets a solution and somebody comes to help so I don’t have to deal with this anymore, and so that we can all have a peaceful summer with our kids and our grandkids and actually have a barbecue and just relax.”   Summer turned into fall and there was no relief from the bully.  Parents had to walk their kids to and from the bust stop armed with a variety of weapons.  The kids used their backpacks as shields.  The neighborhood cancelled all of their usual outside activities including trick-or-treating at Halloween.  For two years, the residents of the trailer park lived in fear of the bully.  In the fall of 2023, reports of the bullying ended.  Rumors persist that someone in the mobile home park murdered the bully.  Perhaps they were all involved in the murder conspiracy.  Some of the rumors go as far as to say that there is no evidence to be found because the residents ate the bully during a Thanksgiving celebration.  The new neighbor which plagued that mobile home park was a wild turkey.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Sources:

1.     Kirsten Mitchell, “‘This turkey has literally taken over our life’: Wild turkey terrorizing neighbors in Coon Rapids,” CBS News, January 21, 2023, accessed November 16, 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wild-turkey-terrorizing-neighbors-in-coon-rapids/.

2.     The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), March 5, 2023, p.5M.     

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Graveside services for Ms. Kay Doss, age 73 of Dubach, LA will be held at 11:00 AM, Monday, December 1, 2025 in Hamilton Cemetery with Rev. Marvin Winham officiating, under the direction of Owens Memorial Chapel Funeral Home of Ruston, LA.

Kay was born May 22, 1952 in Bernice, LA to Sylvia and Archie Doss and passed away Sunday, November 23, 2025 in Jackson, MS.  She graduated from Dubach High School in 1970, while working at her father’s store, Doss Grocery. In 1974, Kay graduated Louisiana Tech University, where she was a member of the Brock and Bridle Club, earning her degree in English.

After graduation she taught school for one year. Kay then started her career in banking, where she worked at various banks: First National Bank, Louisiana Bank, Community Trust Bank, and Gibsland State Bank. She held various positions through out her career, from bank teller, loan officer, to branch manager, where she met a multitude of life long friends. Kay never met a stranger and always knew how each person was related to the next.

Kay enjoyed playdays and barrel racing competition from childhood into her early forty’s, taking “Girls” trips, nights out on the town, movie days with her beloved girlfriends, and being around her family. She was an active member of First Baptist Church Dubach before moving to New Prospect Baptist Church.

In 2019, Kay retired from Gibsland State Bank to start a new job, becoming a grandmother called “Honey”. Once her granddaughter arrived, she still enjoyed the trips, the movies, friends, and family, but ultimately her world revolved around Harleigh Kay. If Harleigh was with “Honey” they were out shopping, getting something to eat, or playing in a park somewhere.

Kay was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her son, Justin Landrum and wife Chelsey of Dubach, LA; granddaughter, Harleigh Kay Landrum of Dubach, LA; sisters, Linda Gail Foxx of Ft. Worth, TX and Sheila Doss Roden of Clinton, MS; brothers, Burns Doss and wife Camille of Shreveport, LA, Chuck Doss of Dubach, LA,  and Lane Doss and wife Mary Elise of Monroe, LA; sister-in-law, Rosie Colvin of  Dubach, LA; numerous nieces and nephews, and a host of other family and friends.

Serving as pallbearers will be TJ Johnston, Marshall Doss, Kerry Gaskin, Rex Hobbs, Ben Thomas, and Blake Carter.

The family would like to express our thanks for the exceptional care received at St. Dominics Hospital in Jackson, MS.

Visitation will be from 9:00 AM until 10:45 AM, Monday, December 1, 2025 at New Prospect Baptist Church in Dubach. 

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Kay Doss 
May 22, 1952 – November 23, 2025 
Visitation: Monday, December 01, 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:45 AM, New Prospect Baptist Church, 3438 Hwy 167, Dubach 
Graveside service: Monday, December 01, 2025, 11:00 AM, Hamilton Cemetery, 126 Hamilton Cemetery Road, Dubach 

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To our dear staff, readers and advertisers:

As we near the end of another calendar year, our co-publishing team would like to send a special Thanksgiving message to our entire community for another amazing year of local reporting and news-breaking.

Because without you, there would be no Lincoln Parish Journal.

In September of 2021, our small team answered the clarion call to bring another vehicle of local news by combining our years of journalistic experience to take over publishing duties for the LPJ. In that time, our staff has multiplied and we have published well over 10,000 stories — all with the local angle that we know our readers crave. It’s been a labor of love and one we do not take lightly.

And you, the community, have reponsded by advertising with us, signing up for emails and joining our Facebook page. Because of that, we just celebrated October 2025 as our highest month in readership since we started.

Meaning our readers are engaged, our staff is encouraged, and our advertisers are getting the return on investment they deserve.

Lincoln Parish is a thriving place for local journalism. And it’s our commitment to keeping things as localized as we can that will carry us all into the future.

So we thank you for sharing your stories with us. We thank you for trusting us. We thank you for supporting us.

Here’s to a bright future. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Signed with the warmest regards and thankfulness,

Judith, Kyle and Malcolm 

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by Hanna Singh

Sometimes it takes a bit of struggle to truly appreciate the things that we have.

After one of the hardest and also one of the most rewarding years of my life, I reminisce about the things and the people I am most thankful for. Along with the things that I’m thankful have passed. Overall, I learned a tough lesson this year, that I truly don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so I must make the most of the moments I have now.

 I’ve gone most of my life, only worried about the small things that I could expect to come. Not that I would say I took my blessings for granted, but I simply didn’t consider how fragile life could be. My son had gone his whole life with no major health issues, as had I.

So, it didn’t seem like reality the night that we rushed our 10-month-old daughter to the hospital seizing and crying. So many questions spiraled through my mind. What did I do wrong? What could she have eaten? What didn’t she eat that I should have been giving her? What miniscule mistake did we make somewhere along the line to cause our baby to be lying unconscious in a hospital bed, hooked up to a dialysis machine and clinging to life.

Looking back, I realize that even if there had been an answer, it wouldn’t have solved our problem. But never having an explanation gave me a sense of anxiety that still creeps in. Whenever she sleeps a little too long or doesn’t have much of an appetite, I fight the urge to rush her back to the doctor for more tests (an urge that I have fell victim to a couple of times).

I look at her now, 16 months old and running like a track star, and I wonder what ever could have happened last summer. It puts into perspective for me that even if I try my hardest to do everything right for my children, there are some things that I just can’t control. Instead of worrying about what may come, I try now to be grateful for the time I have with them.

Remembering the nights I cried and asked God not to take my girl yet gives me a sense of relief in the day to day. Knowing that no matter how messy, how loud, or how crazy a 5 and 1 year old can be, I’m blessed to have them here with me in these moments.

It’s been a whirlwind of a year to say the least. Not only did our little family experience a medical scare, but we were also met with a string of other unfortunate events upon our arrival home from the hospital. Yet, in the midst of insanity, we also accomplished big things. Our son started kindergarten, and our daughter turned one. I embarked on a new career that has more than returned on the investment I put in, and I picked back up the paintbrush this fall. And of course, my husband finally returned home from a 10-month deployment, safe and sound.

I can already expect that next year will bring more chaos. Another deployment on the horizon and the start of more career ventures. It’s easy to get caught up in the whirling tornado that life becomes when you’re being whisked from doctor appointments to business meetings. But right now, sitting here in my cozy home with the love of my life and our two healthy babies, I feel nothing but gratitude.

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by Wesley Harris

You want something green on your Thanksgiving dinner menu but you’re so tired of green bean casserole? Try collard greens.

We cook collards on occasion, but this will be the first year they have graced our Thanksgiving table. It will be a welcome change from those green beans.

Collard greens, part of the cabbage family, have long been a Southern family meal staple, No longer reserved for country folk, they have been revived as a great addition to contemporary meals. The variations in recipes are numerous, but a few hard and fast rules apply.

1. Wash the collard greens thoroughly at least twice. Then hand wash each leaf. Otherwise, you’ll have gritty collards.
2. A form of smoked meat must be cooked with the greens to enhance their flavor.
3. Provide bowls for any cooked green so diners can dip up the “pot liquor,” also spelled “pot likker,” the savory juice that holds much of the dish’s flavor and nutrients.

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Here’s a basic collard green recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

3 lbs. collard greens

1 ½ lbs. of smoked turkey wings or legs or a smoked ham hock

Carton of chicken broth

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp garlic powder

1. Add the smoked meat to a large pot, add chicken broth, then top off with water until the meat is just covered. Simmer until the meat is falling off the bone.
2. While the meat is simmering,. Then rip out the tough middle stem. Roll leaves up into a bundle and cut into small pieces.
3. Once the meat is cooked, add the other ingredients to the meat. Simmer for about an hour until greens are super tender.
4. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more to your taste.

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Fried Collards

For a different taste, try fried collards. Dorothy Bonner, a longtime Grambling High School teacher and counselor, shared her fried collard green recipe with the community in 1975:

1/3 lb. sliced dry salt pork

3 bunches of collards

Salt to taste

½ cup water

1. Chop thoroughly washed collards & remove stems.
2. Fry sliced pork in skillet until crisp. Add collards and salt, no more than ½ cup water.
3. Stir frequently, lower heat, cook covered until tender, 20-30 minutes.

Serve with hot water cornbread, sweet potatoes, & broiled steaks cooked with the cornbread.

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By Kyle Roberts

‘Tis the season for the best cut of meat: Prime Rib.

And armed with only the roast, a ton of butter, and Kinder’s Prime Steak Rub, you can be the Gordon Ramsey your family deserves this Christmas season.

As a bonus, your entire house will smell heavenly in the hours while it roasts in your oven.

Just follow the ingredients and step below for a perfectly cooked, medium rare rib roast.

Ingredients

• One rib roast (I went six pounds with four bones still in)
• Three sticks of room temperature butter
• Kinder’s Prime Steak Rub

Steps

• Preheat the oven to 500°F.
• Mix together the butter and seasoning salt in a medium bowl until evenly combined.
• Rub the butter mixture all over the rib roast, then place on a roasting tray with a rack.
• Bake for 5 minutes per pound of meat (example: 25 minutes for a 5-pound roast).
• Turn off the heat and let the rib roast sit in the oven for 2 hours, making sure you do not open the oven door or else the residual heat will escape.

That last step is key. Make whatever empty threats you must to your children and be clear: DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.

Once finished, we let ours set for about 20 minutes before carving and serving. Enjoy with any type of greens, potatoes and rolls.

How it started

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And how it ended

By Kyle Roberts

RUSTON, La. — For eight straight seasons, the Ruston High Bearcats will have played in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, which (outside of the 2020 COVID season) has been the Friday right after Thanksgiving.

It wasn’t always the norm — in fact, Ruston High Head Coach Jerrod Baugh saw early in his tenure that for the Bearcat football program to take the next step, playing over Thanksgiving break would have to become an expectation, not just a pleasant surprise.

“Whenever we first started going to the third round, it was a struggle,” Baugh said. “
We had a lot of kids that planned on going to the Bayou Classic, or they were going out of town for Thanksgiving. And so I struggled with trying to be thoughtful of people’s plans, even though I really wanted everybody to always make plans that we were we were going to be playing on Thanksgiving. And now, I think that everybody understands that we’ve been doing that so long now that I think people just know that they need to plan on our son not being able to be with us wherever it is or we’re going to host Thanksgiving at our place or whatever all of the circumstances are. 


“And that’s a good thing. So I think our kids have grown accustomed to what it looks like. They know what the routines are — that we’ll have morning practices on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and evening practice, and a pep rally on Thursday, and come in about midday on Friday.”

Ruston High advanced to the quarters yet again after defeating No. 16 Westgate this past Friday 52-13 in a rematch from a much closer game in 2023. Now, it’s a rematch from last season as No. 8 Southside comes to town following Ruston’s victory in last year’s quarters by a final score of 49-7. The Bearcats combined great clock management with a stingy defense and power running game to put the Tigers away early and get the win.

“I would probably say that it would have been a complete ball game by executing in all three phases, on offense defense and special teams,” Buagh said. “Obviously, that was a really good time to do that because Westgate is a really good football team. 
I thought the kids did a really good job.”

Looking to this week, Baugh is expecting a much more mature Shark team to come to Hoss Garrett Stadium for this matchup compared to last year.

“They’re definitely more experienced,” Baugh said. “Their quarterback comes back and now he’s got another year under his belt. And then that offense that they run — he’s got to check things at the line of scrimmage. He does a good job reading the option stuff that they ask him to read. He’s good with the football in his hands. A lot of people think if you see these flex bone option teams, then it’s three yards in a cloud of dust, but they’re averaging 50-plus points a game. And that’s because the quarterback is doing a really good job of getting them in the right place and getting the ball to who it’s supposed to go to. 
And the guys that he’s getting it to, or it’s him, are making some big time plays.

“They kind of do some unorthodox things defensively at times. So we’re going to have to make sure offensive line wise in the running game that we’re communicating what it is that we see. But (Head Coach Jess) Curtis does a really good job with what he does — obviously, all the state championships he won at Many, this isn’t new to him. And so I think he’s some of what he’s been able to do in his career, he’s passing that along to some of the kids and they’re not going to come here and be overwhelmed. They’ll have a chip on their shoulder from how the game went last year. Our kids need to be ready, ready for that.”

Healthwise, the Bearcats are expecting star defensive tackle Ra’Keem Potts to be available after suffering an ankle injury last Friday night.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Q94.1 FM and streamed live on BearcatNationNetwork.com.

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By Malcolm Butler

(Yes. This was written in 2022, but it’s too good — well the video is — to not share everything Thanksgiving.)

WATCH – WKRP TURKEY DROP SCENE

I’m not sure we can ever have enough laughter in our lives.

Especially in this day and age.

It’s funny — not haha funny; just more funny .. you know — that when Thanksgiving rolls around each year, one of the things that makes me laugh is thinking of my maternal grandfather Roland Abegg watching one of his favorite shows.

WKRP in Cincinnati.

It was an old sitcom that premiered in 1978 and ran until 1982. Ninety episodes of pure stupid comedy.

It was your typical, harmless, sometimes hilarious, 30-minute show about the misadventures of a staff at a struggling radio station in — you guessed it — Cincinnati, Ohio. The creator Hugh Wilson once told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he selected the WKRP as the call sign to stand for C-R-A-P.

You can see he had a sense of humor.

The series received 10 Emmy Award nominations during its four-year TV lifespan, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series. It was pretty comical. Kind of stupid funny, but funny nonetheless.

I will always remember sitting in my grandparents living room watching the show with my grandfather. He sure thought it was funny; much more than I did at the time. But I was only 9 years old when it launched so a lot of the humor was lost on me at the time.

However, one episode was not.

The entire premise of the episode was about a Thanksgiving promotion that WKRP was doing for the station. A promotion that went south, quickly.

As live turkeys were literally dropped from the helicopter by station manager manager Arthur Carlson and his sidekick Herb Tarlek (you don’t see this in the actual show), WKRP reporter Les Nessman is on the scene at a shopping mall, giving a live play-by-play of the “turkey drop” over the air.

Poor Les had no clue of the actual promotion he would be covering that day, until the first turkey made landfall … with a thud.

“The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement,” screams a distraught Les.”The crowd is running for their lives … I can’t stand here and watch this any longer.”

It’s really one of the all-time great scenes in any sitcom.

Once Carlson, Tarlek and Les return to the station — their clothes tattered and hair a mess looking like they just went 10 rounds with an angry mob of turkeys — Carlson utters a line to the rest of the WKRP station staff that goes down in the lore of great sitcom writing.

“As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

Between Les’ first-hand, on-the-scene account of the well-intended promotion turned bird fiasco and Carlson’s scene-ending one-liner back at the station, my grandfather was rolling in his chair. Tears were flowing. It was one of those laughs we all need sometimes.

I think at age nine I was laughing more at his reaction than the actual show.

Over the decades, the episode has become an almost cultural phenomenon, even for those who may not have seen it originally aired way back on October 30, 1978. In all honesty, a Thanksgiving doesn’t go by without me going to YouTube and watching the four minutes of turkey chaos.

It makes me laugh now the way my grandfather did back then. That I’m always thankful for.

But even more importantly, it makes me smile thinking about my grandfather’s pure joy watching Les panic-stricken voice yelling out … “Oh the humanity!”

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