By T. Scott Boatright
With all due respect to Fats Domino, the Ruston Bearcats are rushing to New Orleans.
It’s their bread-and-butter — old-fashioned smashmouth football, and the top-seeded Bearcats were at it again as Ruston used its run game to rally for a 21-17 win over 13th-seeded Zachary to earn a fourth-straight trip to the Division I Nonselect School championship game inside Caesars Superdome next weekend.
And it’ll be a District 2-5A matchup as the Bearcats will take on Ouachita, which upset Neville 14-7 to earn a trip to New Orleans.
In recent weeks since losing starting running back Dalen Powell to a broken ankle in the regular season, Ruston rushers Kohl Gray, Jeremiah Freeman, fullback Lander Smith and even quarterback Sam Hartwell have stepped up to run the Bearcats to victory.
Against Zachary, it was a total running back by committee effort, with fullback Lander Smith even joining in on the action with some critical late carries to help the Bearcats run out the clock.
“Lander has been doing it, starting, since he was a ninth grader,” Griffin said. “So in clutch time like that, why not give it to him? He doesn’t complain when he’s not a major part of the offense all of the time. But whenever his number is called, he does a great job for us, so we leaned on him and he made a couple of big runs for us.”
Smith said he’s good with however he’s used as long as the Bearcats win.
“It just showed how much they trust me,” Smith said. “I love these coaches. I love this team. I want to be the guy who gets the ball every time. I know I don’t get it every play, but anytime I do, I’m ready to go.”
Freeman picked up 93 yards on a team-high 13 carries, including a 29-yard run to set up the Bearcats’ second touchdown by Kohl Gray.
Griffin said that’s simply the running back by committee approach the team has taken in the playoffs.
“Since the West Monroe game when Dalen went down, these guys have been giving us more and more confidence in all of them as far as us as coaches,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t matter which back is in the game, I don’t hesitate to make any call because we know the offensive line is going to get it done for them. We know the tight end is going to get it done for them.
“Those guys feed off of each other. The second touchdown we scored, Jeremiah breaks a long one and then he needs a breather. So Kohl gets in there and runs it on in. When they came to the sideline, both of them were celebrating and Dalen was on the (recreational bike) and he wanted to jump up with them.”
Gray, who ran for 103 yards and scoring scampers of 45 and 16 yards on 12 carries, credited Ruston’s offense for playing a key role in the win.
“Without the whole line, the skills position would be nothing,” Gray said. “They’re like one of us. Their role is just as big and they took care of business tonight just like they have all season. We were doubted all season. People thought we wouldn’t get past the third round (of the playoffs) this year. We’ve proved them wrong all year. And we won’t be done until we win in the Superdome.”
Griffin agreed with his junior running back.
“I know they’re an offensive line, but they are exciting,” Griffin said. “They hate (offensive line coach Bryan Beck sometimes) because we set such a high standard for those guys and we hold them to a different standard than everybody else.
“But you see why. For the past three or four weeks, we’ve leaned on those guys and they kept the chains moving. It starts with them. Our tight end, Ahmad Smith can’t do what he does without them. And then he’s one of them, too. Sam can’t do what he does without them. The same with Jeremiah, Kohl and Josiah (Morgan), they can’t do what they do without the big boys up front, and I’m sure glad they showed up tonight for us.”
Ruston’s first score came on a 11-yard run by Hartwell, who finished with 51 yards on eight carries.
“I think we knew coming in that we were going to give it everything we had,” Hartwell said. “We were just going to pound the ball, take our shots and do everything we could. And Kohl had a great game, and Jeremiah had a great game. It was just an all-round great win.
“The offensive line did its part, too. We’re pushing the ball downfield and scoring when we need to.”
And the line played a big role on the play that secured the win for the Bearcats.
On a fourth-and three at the Zachary 36-yardline and time winding down, the Bearcats went for it, handing the ball to Gray, who burst up the middle for 25 yards before going down at the Zachary 11.
“After we called the timeout, we just wanted to get the first down,” Griffin said. “But Kohl had something else in mind. He wanted to get the score. I’m just glad he held on to the ball because Zachary only had one timeout left and we knew they were going to try to strip the ball from us.
“So, we told Kohl to get as many yards as he could and make sure got on down when they closed in so they wouldn’t get a cheap shot in trying to knock the ball out. The most important thing is that we told the guys to keep their composure. Zachary is a class-act program. The past couple of games, words have been exchanged and tempers have flared, and we wanted to make sure everybody stayed cool so they can all play next week.”
Gray admitted that for a moment, all he thought about was hitting paydirt.
“I saw nothing but grass,” Gray said. “I wanted another score, but I just knew I had to stay in bounds to secure the win.”
The Bearcats then called a timeout before kneeling on the ball and beginning their celebration.
“Tonight means everything,” Freeman said. “Before the season everybody doubted us. They thought we were going to go 5-5. Some thought even 3-7. But we stayed true to ourselves and beat the odds, and now look at us — going to the Dome. People thought we weren’t going to do that after losing so many players from last year’s team. But we proved them wrong.”
