By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON — Another week of Bearcat football, and it’s another marquee matchup for the Firmly Founded.
Ruston plays Edna Karr at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, a meeting of the top two teams in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 5A poll and the opening game of the Inspire the City Invitational doubleheader.
The Bearcats are 2-0 and No. 1 in that poll with 130 points after a 36-22 win over Longview on Friday. Karr is 2-0 and second with 122. The Cougars are the defending Division I select state champions, have won 29 straight dating back to 2023 and have opened this season with a 48-21 win over Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy and a 50-0 win at Huntington. St. Augustine plays East Ascension in the second game at 6:30 p.m.
Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said the game is worth what a September game is worth, and no more.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for our kids and a great opportunity to see exactly where we are at this point in the year, what things we need to continue to work on,” Baugh said. “I know a lot of people have looked forward to this ball game, but I think we don’t need to get caught up in the deal. This is not the state championship. It’s not the last ball game. And so win or lose, we’re going to have to take whatever happens in this ball game and either build on the positive things or continue to correct the negative things that happen, and then be able to move on.”
The season does not turn on it either way, he said. It is a regular season game to be used for what it is, and a building process toward where the program is trying to get.
The Bearcats’ early perfect record stayed intact last week after Texas powerhouse Longview made the trip to Ruston. The ‘Cats pulled away in the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to more production by junior running back Dalen Powell, who rushed for 180 yards and four touchdowns. He comes into the contest with nine scores through two games.
“I think we made it tougher than what it needed to be,” Baugh said. “There were times during the ball game we just didn’t play particularly well on either side of the ball. But I thought our kids played hard. It’s just our execution level wasn’t where I felt like it needed to be, especially against a good football team like that.”
Baugh said his defense should have been better prepared for Longview’s two-tight-end packages, a heavier running-game look the Bearcats had not seen this season.
Karr graduated 34 seniors off last year’s 14-0 team, including quarterback John Johnson, and head coach Brice Brown spent the preseason sorting out a quarterback competition between juniors Marlon Jones and Forest Johnson.
“They shine in a lot of areas,” Baugh said. “I guess the thing that I’m impressed with is you graduate all of those guys that go on to play college, and you would expect to see some holes somewhere, and you just don’t. Coach Brown has done such a great job building that program, and that’s how you know that it’s a program — that you’re able to graduate that many really, really good players and you still don’t see any holes. The names change, but the production level doesn’t.”
Among those who came back are senior defensive end Juelz Batiste, an Ole Miss commitment, senior offensive tackle Zyion Wesley, a Mississippi State commitment, senior running back Jermond Macklin and junior receiver Kamal Martin.
“Whether those guys played every snap last year or got in bits and pieces, you can’t really tell,” Baugh said. “They look experienced. They look like they know what they’re doing. You can tell they’re used to winning. They’re really well coached, very talented, and they’ll be ready to get after it.”
The 3 p.m. kickoff was Baugh’s request. The game was originally slated for noon, which would have required the Bearcats to travel down a day early.
“I knew playing at noon was really going to push us into having to stay the night before, so I requested to back it up enough to where I felt like we could leave at a reasonable time to get there and be prepared and then still be able to turn back around and come back,” Baugh said. “And they accommodated that.”
Players reported at 6:45 a.m. this morning and the buses left at 7. Bags were already loaded, breakfast eaten on the road and there will be no stops between Ruston and the Superdome. Baugh said Karr also cleared the Bearcats to get into the building ahead of the original timetable.
“We’ll get into the Superdome at noon, eat some lunch and do a walkthrough, and then basically get dressed and taped and go through our pregame warmup, and it’d be time to kick off,” Baugh said. “So it’ll be pretty quick, pretty tight schedule, but I just think for being in the middle of the season, I prefer not to spend the night anyway and save our resources.”
Ruston will bus home after the game and expects to be back in town around midnight. Players are not due back at the school until Sunday evening, and the staff has already started prep for Catholic of Baton Rouge, which visits Hoss Garrett Stadium on Sept. 25.
Baugh expects Karr’s roster turnover to be motivation rather than a weakness.
“I think they will probably feel like this will be their opportunity to prove themselves as their own separate football team from last year’s team,” Baugh said. “I feel like they’ll come in with a chip on their shoulder, because everybody keeps talking about all of those guys they graduated. I’m sure they’re proud for all those guys, but they want to do their own thing too. So I think that would be a lot of motivation for their football team.”
Baugh said Saturday will be the first meeting between the two programs.
The game will be broadcast on Q94.1 FM, and will be live-streamed by Crescent City Sports.
