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.'”
