Bearcats can pretty much survive the fright

MONROE – Ruston’s defense delivered when it mattered most on a rare night of offensive struggles in the Bearcats’ District 2-5A opener against Ouachita, 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. Their kids played very hard,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “To be honest, I probably deserved to win the football game. I think they outperformed us in many aspects of the ball game. For whatever reason, we couldn’t match their intensity and desire to win the game. And I feel like that surfaced.”

Ruston’s big lead in the second half came thanks to a 1-yard touchdown run by Josh Brantley and a subsequent 14-yard dash by Brantley to take the lead to 22-8 on a quarterback option run with 2:14 left in the third half went. It was a welcome sign after just one touchdown in the first half – a 55-yard strike to Ahmad Hudson.

Despite a poor start to the night like Ruston, the Bearcats were close to delivering the decisive blow by penetrating the Ouachita 28. But Brantley was picked off shortly after and the Lions’ Orlando Freemont returned the takeaway to Ruston’s 40. Nine plays later, the Lions cut the deficit to 22-15 on a Conner touchdown with 7:35 left.

Ruston followed up the punt on its next possession and gave the ball back to Ouachita with 3:28 left – 80 yards to tie.

The Lions answered the call by using Conner’s legs to pick up multiple first downs and quickly get offside. Ouachita sent its home crowd into a frenzy after a 34-yard touchdown pass to Wydell Clark with 39 seconds left cut 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 freshman kicker Miguel Mondragon 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 lead, it probably should have come down to that. I think 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; It took a lot of time and limited our chances of getting the football. When we had it in the first half, we didn’t do much with it.”

Ruston’s defense held strong in crucial moments despite having been 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. “Fortunately, they ran out of time on the two-point conversion and got a backup,” Baugh said. “They probably changed their plans for the play call. Hats off to Ouachita. I thought they played really well and really hard.”

No. 1 Ruston (6-0, 1-0) hosts No. 5 Neville (6-0, 1-0) next week at Hoss Garrett Stadium as the Bearcats return home for the first time in a month. The Bearcats also extended the state’s longest winning streak to 20 games.

In other games involving District 2-5A, Alexandria defeated West Monroe 45-35 at ASH on Friday night, while Neville edged Pineville 50-10.