Ruston-Neville Week — enough said

The big one is here, folks.

The 99th meeting between Ruston and Neville takes place tonight at Hoss Garrett Stadium as the No. 1 Bearcats (6-0, 1-0) host the No. 4 Tigers (6-0, 1-0) in a battle that could end up determining not just the District 2-5A champion but potentially the No. 1 seed in the Division I Non-select playoffs.

But that’s a bridge to cross when that arrives. All Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh wants his team focused on is Neville and executing at a higher level than what the unbeaten Bearcats showed last week in a 22- 21 nail- biting win over Ouachita.

It was a win on the scoreboard but not in the hearts of Baugh and his players, with Ruston struggling to score consistently on offense and stopping the Lions’ ground game in the team’s district opener.

Tonight, the Bearcats just have to be their true selves — no more overlooking or hyping up an opponent. Preparation and mental focus can’t waver ahead of a game like this. It’s all Baugh can ask for tonight.

“I’d like to see us finish the week,” Baugh said. “I feel like last week that’s where it fell apart for us. And there’s not a lot going on physically Thursday and Friday, it’s more of a mental deal. And I felt like it was a bad Thursday and bad Friday after three days of really good practice. I think what we did was ruin the three days of good practice because we weren’t mentally into what it was we needed to be doing. That’s what I’d like to see.”

Neville will demand Ruston’s best, with the Tigers seeming to have no trouble under firstyear head coach Mike Collins, who previously served as the team’s defensive coordinator. Neville is coming off a 50-10 win over Pineville last week and will clearly come into Hoss Garrett Stadium with something to prove after falling short to Ruston 14-10 last year.

The Tigers appeared to have the Bearcats beat, but after a muffed punt gave Ruston one last chance with under 50 seconds left, Josh Brantley put Ruston ahead with 38 seconds left to pull out the victory. Neville was the only team in the regular season to hold Ruston under 28 points in 2023.

Neville’s staff will likely have a well thought-out game plan for tonight between the experience of Collins, former St. Frederick head coach Andy Robinson and Steve Ensminger Jr. as offensive coaches.

“Coach Collins has done a really good job. He’s a defensive-minded person and has been a defensive coordinator most of his career,” Baugh said. “I think he’s done a really good job making sure he has the right guys offensively to take care of that. Glen Hunt has been around for a long time and been a coordinator for a long period of time and then you talk about Andy Robinson and Steven Ensminger – both of those guys have worked here and they’re familiar with how things work here. I think they’ve done a good job with what they’re trying to do on offense.”

The Bearcats have already seen Neville this year in a preseason meeting at the Bayou Jamb in Monroe, with Ruston winning 20- 15 thanks to Aidan Anding’s pick six and kickoff return touchdowns. The win was a nice indication the Bearcats would once again be formidable to anyone they’d play, but Baugh wants to see improvement from the last time these teams met.

“ We had an interception for a touchdown, and we returned a kick and we really didn’t do anything on offense,” Baugh said. “I was displeased with how we performed offensively. Not to say I expected that, and we had so many new guys and it was the beginning of all that, and we struggled with that. But I think we’ve come a long way offensively in particular.

“One thing I brought to the team’s attention was I thought our defense ran to the football really well and really, I haven’t seen that all together since then. Coach (Kyle) Williams and I both talked about that. I think they had an opportunity to watch that, and I think the kids agreed” Baugh added.

Brantley tore up the Tigers for 146 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns last year in his breakout game — the first time the Bearcats asked him to truly impact the game on the ground, much to Neville’s surprise.

Baugh expects Neville to be ready this time around for the quarterback run game given the Tigers’ staff experience. But with dynamic options in the passing game (Ahmad Hudson, Joran Parker) and at the tailback position ( Jordan Hayes, Dylone Brooks) at Ruston’s disposal to shift to, changing styles on the fly won’t be a big deal to the Bearcats if it comes to that.

“At that time playing them, we were still trying to find our identity of what it is we need to be doing and knew Josh could run but hadn’t done much of it. I think that helped coaches and players decide this is fixing to be a bigger part of what we do,” Baugh said. “And we still are somewhat now with the guys we have now. There may be some other things and you get out there and you line up in a formation to see how they play different personnel groups and they’ll probably set up to defend the quarterback run which may lend to where we have to throw the ball a bit more. We’ll just see how it works out.”

What’s been tabbed as the game of the year in North Louisiana, is set for tonight at 7 p.m. at The Hoss.