By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Have a night, Dalen Powell.
Ruston’s (1-0) sensational junior tailback ran for 271 yards and five touchdowns Friday night as Ruston opened the season with a 42-16 win over Neville (0-1) in the 101st meeting between the schools at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
Powell was the workhorse in the running game and carried the ball 24 times and averaged 11.3 yards a carry. Ruston finished with 474 total yards, 326 of which were on the ground.
“I thought our guys came out hot offensively,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “I felt defensively we stayed hot pretty well the entire game.”
Powell scored from 17 yards out at the 8:59 mark of the first quarter and from 23 with 55 seconds left in the opening period, and Ruston led 14-0 after the first quarter.
Neville got all of its first-half points in a second quarter Ruston spent handing the ball over. Rex Parker’s 35-yard field goal made it 14-3 with 10:53 to play in the half. Neville recovered a Hartwell fumble at the Ruston 1 on the following series and came away with nothing, missing a 21-yard attempt wide right with 7:18 left, and a fourth-down incompletion intended for Kayden Jones ended another Tigers possession at 2:11.
Jones got the points himself with 24 seconds on the clock, stepping in front of a Hartwell throw and returning it for a touchdown. The two-point try failed, and Ruston took a 14-9 lead to the locker room.
Baugh said the second quarter, not the scoreboard, was the problem.
“I thought we gave up a drive there in the second half that, you know, I think we got gassed before it was over with,” Baugh said. “We put our defense in some bad positions late in the first half, and we’ve got to do a better job offensively taking care of the football. And, you know, it could have gone differently if we give up points, but our defense made some big stands and go in at the half with the lead and then come out, get a stop, give our offense the ball back to be able to put some more points on the board, so that was big.”
Neville went three-and-out to open the second half, and Powell scored from 33 yards out at 6:25 on the clock in the third. Freshman Reed Williams broke up a fourth-down pass to end the Tigers’ next possession, and Powell answered with a 66-yard run with 48 seconds left in the third quarter for a 28-9 lead.
Powell scored for the last time on a 36-yard run at 8:44 of the fourth quarter. Neville senior quarterback Parker Robinson found Jarvis Blackston for a 6-yard touchdown at 5:48, the Tigers’ first offensive score of the night, and senior Bearcat Kohl Gray closed the scoring with a 4-yard run at 2:34. Gray carried seven times for 49 yards, and Joaquin Ramos made all six extra points.
“Dalen’s a special player, and I think Dalen did what Dalen does,” Baugh said. “I think he and Kohl Gray are a good one-two punch. We needed that tonight because we didn’t do a good enough job during the week taking care of ourselves and had too many cramps. If those two would have needed to be in the ball game at the same time, we wouldn’t have had that available, but they were able to sub each other out and stay off of the cramps. We need to be able to get both of them in there if we need them.”
Senior quarterback Sam Hartwell completed 8 of 14 passes for 148 yards. Josiah Morgan caught two for 73 yards, including a 46-yarder, Ahmad Hudson caught three for 55 and Keshun Malcolm caught three for 20. Hartwell also ran three times for 15 yards. The fumble and the interception were Ruston’s only two turnovers.
Baugh said the plan had been closer to an even run-pass split.
“We felt good about a running game, and we had left our defense out there too much,” Baugh said. “We really had kind of anticipated being 50-50 run-pass. But we put ourselves in a bind defensively leaving them out there. So we needed to put some drives together to be able to run some clock and give those guys a break. So we ended up leaning on our running game a little bit more. I thought our offensive line did a good job leaning on those guys and creating some holes. Our backs were patient. And then those guys made some big plays at some big times whenever we needed some catches.”
Hartwell lauded Powell for his efforts on Friday.
“I think he’s the greatest player in the country. I love that kid,” Hartwell said. “Just his vision, his elusiveness, his speed. And like I said, he works really hard. He works hard in the film room. He works hard everywhere. He’s a leader on our team, and we need him every week, and he’s going to step up and make plays.”
Robinson completed 23 of 37 passes for 131 yards and a late touchdown. Blackston led the Tigers on the ground with 50 yards on 15 carries and Robinson added 43. Neville finished with 258 total yards and was held to 3.6 yards a carry.
Unofficially, junior Aidan Adams and senior Jerron Albritton led Ruston with six tackles apiece. Senior Jayden Anding and Williams had five each, and Williams, junior Jacob Brantley and junior Nicholas Hardison had two tackles for loss apiece. The Bearcats were credited with eight stops behind the line as a team.
Baugh said the difference in this team showed up before kickoff.
“I think they understand the expectations, and I don’t get into outside people’s expectations,” Baugh said. “I think our expectations are big for this football team, and they expect a lot of themselves. They know what’s at stake every week. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot, and we’ll have to line up again next week against a really good football team and do it again.”
The coach also pointed to the crowd, which he said was among the largest student turnouts he has seen at Hoss Garrett.
“We need it every time we play at home,” Baugh said. “I think our kids feed off of that. It’s great for our football team, and I think it’s great for everybody.”
Ruston hosts Longview on Friday.
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