By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — It’s a good sign for your high school football program when you’re still playing on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Such is the case for the No. 3 Ruston High Bearcats (9-2), as they will host the No. 6 Southside Sharks (9-2) in the quarterfinals of the 2024 LHSAA playoffs, with the winner earning the chance to play the winner of No. 2 Airline and No. 10. Destrehan.
“I think it’s been a pretty good week of practice,” Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “The kids seem to be excited about being out here this week, and they’re looking forward to another game.”
The Sharks come in with only two losses on the season — first to Notre Dame in week one 21-20 and then district opponent Acadiana 43-10 in week eight. The Bearcats beat the Acadiana in week one by a final score of 35-27 to Ruston’s home opener.
A very run-heavy offense, Baugh made a familiar comparison for longtime Bearcat fans: the class Wing Formation that C.E. Byrd has run for decades, focusing on dives up the middle, option plays, and long passes if the defense is lulled to sleep.
“They operate their offense really well,” Baugh said. “They’re really trying to get the ball to Ramon Singleton, who they really try to make plays with. And not that they don’t make big plays in the throwing game, because they do. Anytime somebody is as run-heavy as they are, they can play-action pass on you. You look on a video and they’ve got a guy or two running wide open just because they run the ball so much that people sell out on the run, so their pass plays are normally big chunk plays or touchdowns.
“Defensively, they have a couple of really big guys inside. They like to blitz a lot, and they line up all over the place. Depending on what you do on offense, it seems like they rely on their secondary a bunch. They play a lot of man coverage, and that allows them to do a lot of different things up front.”
Last week, Ruston downed the Zachary Broncos for the third straight postseason in a row — this time by a final score of 42-21. Senior running back Jordan Hayes totaled 231 yards of offense with four touchdowns — three on the ground and one through the air on a critical third down in the second half.
“I think after the state championship game last year against Zachary, Jordan took it a little personal that he felt like he didn’t do his part, which is not the case, because we had a hard time running the ball against those guys,” Baugh said. “He really wanted to get out there and feel like he did his part (last week) and he absolutely did that. Jordan did what Jordan has been doing for us for the last three years: making big runs and getting a big catch for a touchdown at a crucial point in the game. We’re just really proud for him.
“It should show a lot of people that we, as a team, are willing to do whatever it is we need to do to win a game regardless of who it is that gets carries or throwing the football — it doesn’t matter. We’ll do whatever is necessary to try to win the game.”
Senior running back Dylone Brooks was also seen walking gingerly on the sideline Friday night and did not play in the second half. Baugh said that Brooks came in Saturday and had a good week of practice and treatment — he is expected to be ready to suit up.
Kickoff is set for Friday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. Tickets will need to be purchased on the GoFAN app.
The game will be broadcast on Q94.1 FM and will be streamed live on BearcatNationNetwork.com.
