By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Tonight will be about focus and effort for Ruston High.
Already into Week 9 of the 2026 season, the Bearcats (6-2, 2-1 District 2-5A) will try to play a full game from the opening kickoff tonight as the Pineville Rebels (1-7, 1-2 District 2-5A) come in as the 2026 homecoming opponent at 7 p.m. at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
Baugh said he has stressed to his players that how they approach a game matters as much as the opponent’s record, and he said his message this week is simple: If Ruston is the better team, it has to look like it from the start.
“If the guys feel like the other team isn’t any good, well, that’s what it needs to look like on Friday,” Baugh said. “And if it doesn’t, then I’m going to be upset. If you run around and talk about this or that, and they’re not supposed to be very good, well, it needs to be that from the first kickoff all the way through the entire ball game.”
Baugh said the Peabody game showed him what he does not want to see. He said the effort showed up once the game started, not during the week.
“The practices didn’t go very good, but once the kickoff started, if we’re supposed to be that much better than the other group, then from the very beginning, it needs to look like that,” Baugh said. “It doesn’t need to look disjointed, and we’re sleepwalking and not interested in being in the game. That’s when I’m going to have an issue.”
Baugh also said he sees a bigger purpose in taking care of business early. He said it gives younger players a chance to play, and he tied that to the program’s future.
“I think it’s important for our first group to realize that it’s important to take care of their business so they can give other kids an opportunity to get into the ball game,” Baugh said. “That was their first opportunity to get in when they were a younger player, when other groups took care of their business and then they had a chance to get into the ball game. To me, that’s giving something back to our football program to help us for years down the road, because it isn’t all about you.”
Pineville’s lone win this season came against Peabody, marking the first time in over a decade the Rebels have won a district game. Ruston beat Peabody two weeks in a game that Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh said got away from the Rebels’ fellow opponent early enough that he changed how he handled his starters in the second half.
Baugh said Peabody game was the first time he did not send the first group back out for the first series of the second half. He said he normally wants his starters to stay in the halftime routine, even when backups have played in the first half.
“That game was pretty well out of whack, and I didn’t want to make it seem like I was trying to stomp anybody while they were down,” Baugh said. “We’ll just see how that goes. I hope our first group get out there and take care of what they need, too, and I’m not trying to indicate that that’s how the ball game is going to go.”
Baugh said he respects what Pineville is trying to build and does not expect the Rebels to roll over.
“I feel like the (Head Coach Justin Charles) is doing a good job trying to get the wheels spinning at Pineville,” Baugh said. “Our district is a rough district to try to start your program and get things going, and I think he’s doing a good job. I think their kids are playing hard. So it’s not like they’re going to come out and just let us do those things, but we’re further along in our program development than where they are. It should be a situation where our guys take control of the game, and we’ll see if it goes that way.”
Ruston changed its preparation this week because of the uncertainty for the Bearcats in earning a possible first round bye. For the last four years, Baugh said, the bye week has helped the Bearcats because it gives them time to work on situational football that gets squeezed out when they are preparing for a specific opponent. He said he removed some items from practice, rearranged others and added some of those situations.
Baugh said he also added competition to practice to keep players focused on one another rather than on the opponent.
“I think it changes your focus about what you’re doing during practice,” Baugh said. “I don’t think it’s disregarding the other team, but I do think it was really good for the competitive part of what we need to get done for practice.”
Baugh described a red zone drill in which the ball is placed at the 20-yard line with a first-and-10. The offense and defense each earn points, and the first group to 15 wins. The offense had three series and won that segment, Baugh said. The second group played to 10, and the defense won. A tiebreaker from the 10-yard line with a first-and-goal went to the offense, which will receive a reward, he said.
Baugh said practice started slowly Tuesday and the team was not as focused as he wanted, but it improved as the session went on. He said both groups competed well by the end.
Kickoff tonight is at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Q94.1 FM and streamed on the Bearcat Nation Network.
