Ruston survives the horrors of Ouachita

OUACHITA – Ruston’s defense delivered when it mattered most on a rare night of offensive struggles in the Bearcats’ district opener against Ouachita, 2-5 A, picking up a 22-21 win on the road Friday.
With just over two minutes left in the third period, Ruston led 22-8 and appeared to be well on its way to a sloppy but enjoyable win to move to 6-0. But the Lions gave everything they had and had a chance to upset the Bearcats by taking advantage of Ruston’s poor night on offense and inability to keep quarterback Montrell Conner on the ground.
“Ouachita did a very good job. They were ready to play. Your children played very hard. To be honest, they probably deserved to win the football game. I think they outperformed us in many aspects of the ball game. For whatever reason. “That means we didn’t match their intensity and their desire to win the game. And I feel like that showed.
Ruston’s big second-half lead came courtesy of a 1-yard touchdown run by Josh Brantley and a subsequent 14-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 22-8 on a QB option run with 2:14 left in the third half . It was a welcome sign after just one touchdown in the first half – a 55-yard touchdown to Ahmad Hudson.
Despite a poor start to the night like Ruston, the Bearcats were on the verge of delivering the final blow, getting inside the Ouachitas 28. But Brantley was picked off shortly after and the Lions returned the takeaway to Ruston’s 40. Nine plays later with 7:35 minutes left, the Lions cut the deficit to 22:15.
Ruston followed up the punt and gave the ball back to Ouachita with 3:28 left – 80 yards from the tying score.
The Lions answered the call by using Conner’s legs to pick up multiple first downs and quickly get offside. Ouachita got its home crowd into a frenzy after a 34-yard touchdown pass with 39 seconds left, cutting the game to 22-21.
The Lions wanted to get the win and attempted a two-point conversion. But Ouachita wasn’t ready when the ball was snapped and moved five yards back on the false start, forcing the Lions to settle for the draw. At least that’s what they thought.
Ouachita’s freshman kicker was kicked at the line by Ruston senior Payton Bell and dribbled the kick just past the post.
Ruston ball game.
“We probably deserved to get our asses beaten, I guess that’s what it should have come down to. I guess we need to prepare better for the game,” Baugh said. “Ouachita played a really good football game. I think they had a really good game plan; they took up a lot of time and limited our chances of getting the football. We didn’t do much with it when we had him in the first half.”
Ruston’s defense held strong in crucial moments despite being on the field for so long. Ruston played just 18 plays in the first half and had trouble getting the ball on time all night.
The defense held Ouachita to five punts and three touchdowns – two in the fourth quarter – and left the field due to a missed field goal in the first half, along with the final PAT block that sealed the victory.
Baugh was pleased Ruston found a way to win, but hopes it would serve as a wake-up call going forward.
“Ouachita is the type of team where you let them hang around and they have some guys who can get the ball at any time and score. That’s scary at the end of the game when they have the football. Luckily they ran out.” “They took a lot of time on the two-point conversion and they were supported,” Baugh said. “They probably changed their plans for calling the play. Hats off to Ouachita. I thought they played really well and really hard.”
No. 1 Ruston (6-0) hosts No. 5 Neville (5-0) next week at Hoss Garrett Stadium