Never out of it

MONROE – Neville never had an answer for Ruston quarterback Josh Brantley’s legs, and it proved to hurt in the final moments as the junior punched in two late scores to give No. 5 Ruston (5A) a 14-10 come-from-behind win over No. 2 Neville (4A) Friday night.

Brantley racked up a career high 17 rushes for a career-high 146 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, proving to be the most effective offensive weapon for the Bearcats on a night that proved to be a struggle.

The Bearcats trailed for two hours and 17 minutes of the ballgame until Brantley elected to keep the ball himself on another designed run with 38 seconds left, bouncing off a would-be tackler and sending the packed Ruston faithful into a frenzy after taking the lead over its longtime foe.

“We just trusted each other,” Brantley said postgame on what it took to win. “We went into halftime and made the adjustments we needed to and my o-line trusted me and I trusted my o-line and we made things happen.”

It’s Ruston’s first win at Neville since 2017 and the first time since the 2017-18 seasons with two-straight victories over the Tigers.

The win is also the Bearcats’ third top-10 win on the year, having already bested No. 6 Warren Easton (4A), and No. 3 Lafayette Christian (4A)

Brantley’s legs came up big earlier in the fourth on multiple designed runs that kept Neville off balance and forced the shorter-arm tacklers of the Tigers to try, but fail, in bringing down the 6’3”, 212-pound quarterback.

He’d find the end-zone for his first score of the night with 7:06 remaining to get Ruston on the board down 10-7.

After his scamper from three yards out, both offenses punted it away on their ensuing drives. But Neville’s control of the game changed on a single play, when the Bearcats punted inside the Neville 30, only for the returner to muff the catch and fumble it away.

With 2:41 left, Ruston set up shop at the Neville 29 and would eventually complete its comeback.

“I think we knew if we could get something going offensively we would be in good shape,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “We waited a little bit long to get that going but we found some things and Josh made some really big runs in there and running tough and getting after it. The more experience he gets, that allows us to do some different things offensively.”

Ruston’s offense was playing behind the eight ball before the game even started with starting tight end Zhy Scott and wide receiver Logan Malone out for the game, forcing the Bearcats to play the middle of the field for most of the evening on runs up the gut with Jordan Hayes and Dylone Brooks.

Hayes managed 64 yards on 16 carries while Brooks had three carries for four yards.

The struggles seemed to much to overcome at points, with Ruston punting four times while turning it over twice outside the final scoring drives.

Brantley wasn’t rattled, saying postgame he trusted his veteran team to rally together and keep chipping away until the final whistle.

Now, with a 5-0 record and three top-10 wins heading into district play, the Ruston signal caller made it clear he thinks this is just the beginning for the Bearcats.

“It makes people respect us,” Brantley said. “I don’t like being disrespected and my team doesn’t like being disrespected. And if you disrespect us, we’re going to come show y’all.”

Meanwhile, Ruston’s defense kept its offense in the game by forcing six punts on the night and not letting the prolonged deficit change their aggressiveness.

Baugh wasn’t surprised to see the strength of his team rise up once again, especially on a night where the game felt so one sided.

Going forward, he expects more and more from the unit.

“Those guys have been steady all year and we just need them to continue to play that way,” Baugh said. “I hate to put that pressure on them but those guys, with that experience they have, we need them to play well until, we get some things ironed out on offense and find out exactly what we need to do to be successful.”

Jadon Mayfield finished with seven tackles and a sack while fellow linebacker Zheric Hill had nine tackles. Geordan Guidry had five tackles, including a TFL.

The Bearcats open district play next Friday at home against ASH.