Ruston dismantles Pineville, remains unbeaten

The No. 4 Ruston Bearcats took care of business and remain undefeated on the season after a 48-6 win over Pineville on Friday.

Despite playing without three starters for most of the night, the Bearcats (7-0, 2-0 district) had a shutout in hand until a Pineville kickoff return with 10 seconds left ended the drought. But outside of the last-breath score, it was all Ruston as the home squad built a 28-0 lead by halftime and poured on 20 more with a mix of plays from starters and second and third-string players in the final periods.

Jordan Hayes led the Ruston offense with 17 carries for 121 yards and a touchdown, while freshman Sam Hartwell – in his first varsity action – played with poise in replacement of regular starter Josh Brantley, finishing 6-11 passing for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

Brantley did not start and played one snap, which ended up as a 15-yard touchdown pass, due to ‘internal discipline.’

Hayes’ running mate Dylone Brooks was also inactive, with Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh saying postgame the junior broke his collarbone after a hard fall at practice Tuesday but is expected back in three weeks.

Starting linebacker Jadon Mayfield was also inactive due to sickness but is expected back next week.

But through the pregame shuffling and an inferior opponent in terms of win-loss record, Baugh was pleased his group finished the job like they needed to.

“I really wanted to stop the kickoff and the defense needed to get a stop because I wanted the first group offense to get out there to score the football and then we could start rolling some guys in. of course it didn’t quite go that way but everybody did get a series and I wanted them to mentally get prepared to play the second half and I thought they did an excellent job,” Baugh said.

Ruston scored on its first drive of the night when Hayes punched it in from 21 yards out after the Bearcat defense forced an early three-and-out. A pair of turnovers from the Bearcats stalled the momentum but Zander Hayes picked off a pass and shortly after, with 11:14 left in the second quarter, Ahmad Hudson caught a one-handed, 7-yard touchdown pass from Hartwell to make it 14-0.

In the closing minutes of the second quarter, junior Aidan Anding returned a punt for a touchdown with 3:13 left to make it 21-0, cutting across the field and juking would-be tacklers in his path. And then less than a minute later, Ruston made it a four-score game as Hartwell threw a strike across the middle to Logan Malone for an 18-yard touchdown.

By the break, Ruston outgained Pineville 208 to 19.

If there was a chance Pineville was going to get back in it, the Rebels dispelled that feeling within the first 10 seconds of the second half after muffing and giving away the kickoff.

Less than 15 seconds into the third, Brantley came in for his lone play on a 15-yard score to Joran Parker for a 35-0 lead.

From there, younger players entered the game for Ruston and added to the onslaught, as Nolan Parnell and Hudson Wood tacked on the final two scores of the evening.

“I challenged the groups that we going to come in after that to get out there and execute and use it as an opportunity to get better and I was really pleased with that,” Baugh said. “A lot of times you get out there and you start rolling guys in, it turns into really sloppy stuff and it doesn’t go good but that was really encouraging to me was that those guys took that and for the most part did what we asked them to do.”

Ruston’s defense swarmed over the Rebels all night, allowing Pineville to finish with 30 yards rushing as a team for a 1.1-yard average. Pineville ended with 51 total yards of offense.

Geordan Guidry led the team with four tackles and had a fumble-return touchdown called back due to a block in the back on Ruston. Ahmad Breaux, Nate Johnson, and Payton Bell each had three tackles and a slew of tackles for loss to set the Rebels behind the sticks.

After tonight’s victory, Ruston has outscored Pineville 151-6 in the last three meetings.

Ruston (7-0, 2-0 district) travels to West Ouachita (5-2, 0-2 district) next week.