By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON — Ruston High (1-0) continues its tradition of an intentionally-brutal non-district schedule tonight and will host Longview (2-0) at 7 p.m. at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium, a week after the Bearcats opened the season with a 42-16 win over Neville and with the Lobos arriving 2-0 and having outscored two Texas opponents 120-20.
Last week Junior running back Dalen Powell ran for 271 yards and five touchdowns against Neville, and Ruston finished with 474 total yards, 326 of them on the ground. Senior quarterback Sam Hartwell completed 8 of 14 passes for 148 yards in the blow-out win. The Bearcats gave up nine points in an offensively-anemic second quarter, then scored 28 unanswered in the second half.
Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said the defense was the reason the Neville game never got away.
“I thought we did some good things during that ball game,” Baugh said. “I thought we played consistently on defense. I thought those guys did a really good job, particularly in the second quarter, when our offense kind of fell to pieces and put ourselves in some bad spots. And only giving up the number of points that we gave up in the second quarter — probably should have been behind at the half, rather than having the lead. So I felt really comfortable at halftime, even though it was a small lead. I thought we were in control of the ball game if we would come back out and play on both sides of the ball like we needed to, and we did.”
The recovery was the part he liked. The quarter that made it necessary was not.
“That was good to see the offensive guys recover from not a good quarter,” Baugh said. “But we just can’t go complete quarters at a time and not play well on either side of the ball, because there’ll be times where you can’t recover from that.”
Baugh expects Neville to be playing deep into the fall.
“Neville’s a good football team, and I expect for them to make a long run in the playoffs in their league,” Baugh said. “So I think it was a good way to start the season. And anytime around here that you can beat Neville, that’s a big deal.”
Longview comes in off a 59-7 win over Lufkin in the 89th meeting of that rivalry at Abe Martin Stadium and a 61-13 win over Marshall in which the Lobos scored on all eight possessions and averaged 13.9 yards a play. Senior quarterback Johnny Hamilton threw for 176 yards and ran for another 107 against Lufkin, then completed 6 of 7 passes for 146 yards and four touchdowns in the first half against Marshall.
Baugh’s scouting report on the Lobos was what he expected to see: talent, talent, and more talent all around the football field.
“It’s the same old Longview,” Baugh said. “Really physical offensive line. Defensive line is very athletic, hard to block. Skill guys are all very athletic. They’ve got guys on the offensive side, running backs, receivers, that can score the ball. The quarterback does a good job operating their offense. They do some RPO stuff, just getting the ball to their playmakers. If you get some pressure on him, he can get out of the pocket and run with it.”
One wrinkle is new for the Lobos: Longview carries five tight ends on its 2026 roster and plays more than one at a time, a look Ruston has not seen yet this season.
“They’re a very well-rounded offense, and so it’ll be a test for us,” Baugh said. “They’re the first team we’ve seen with multiple tight ends in the game at a time, so we’ll see how we deal with those heavier running-game packages. And their defense has always been a fast defense. They run to the ball very well, and they tackle really well. And so it’ll be another great football team.”
Asked whether either side has an edge, Baugh pointed to the matchups his own personnel force.
“We’ve got so many guys, and I’m partial to our guys of course, but I think that we just spread people thin on how you want to handle our running game matched up with the guys that we can throw the football to,” Baugh said. “I don’t know how comfortable people are coming into our ball game with one-on-one coverage with some of the guys that we have. So if you’re not comfortable with that, then you have to play some zone coverage, which takes people out of the box and opens up things for the running game. So really, it’s kind of wait and see when you get there on what people pick and choose to do.”
He expects Longview’s defensive staff to move between coverages rather than settle into one.
“I’m sure they’re going to shuffle in and out of some things, and our coaches do a good job of trying to identify what they’re doing,” Baugh said. “And we’ll check some stuff at the line of scrimmage to see how they’re lined up, to determine what it is that we’re going to do with it. So there’ll be a cat-and-mouse game going on within the big game.”
The names in that game are senior receivers Ahmad Hudson, Josiah Morgan, Keshun Malcolm and Powell.
“That’ll be what I think tells the tale, is how they end up deciding that they want to handle covering Ahmad and covering Keshun,” Baugh said. “Are they going to leave those guys one-on-one with somebody, and who is that guy? Or if we get Dalen out of the backfield matched up with a linebacker, how comfortable are they with that? We’re practicing on what we’ve seen them do in the past, but you never really know 100 percent until you’re there at the game.”
Longview leads the all-time series 7-6, but Ruston has won the past two, 21-10 at Lobo Stadium in 2024 and 38-35 at Hoss Garrett Stadium last September.
Baugh closed by asking for a repeat of last week’s crowd, which he said may have been the largest he has seen at the stadium.
“It may have been the biggest crowd that I’ve seen here, possibly,” Baugh said. “I know there have been some big games against West Monroe in the past, but I thought it was full in the stands, and then we had all the people at the pavilion, and then you turn around and look at the Cat Box. I’m almost certain that I’ve never seen that before. So our students did a really good job of showing up, and our kids feed off of that, in particular the student section. I think that’s just school pride — those kids are pulling for each other, and I think that’s a big thing, and it’s good for our school for them to see each other at the game.
“I think that picks up our football team and gives us a little adrenaline at times when we need it. So I can’t say enough good things about the people of the community, the kids at school and everybody showing up for that ball game. I guess the only thing I could ask is keep doing it.”
