Bearcats embark on a Shark hunt
Ruston running back Jordan Hayes (4) has 290 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns over his last two games. The Bearcats will lean on him tonight against Southside. Photo by Josh McDaniel
Ruston’s road to the Caesars Superdome continues through Hoss Garrett Stadium tonight as the No. 3-seeded Bearcats (9-2) host No. 6 Southside (9-2) for the Division I Non- select quarterfinals.
The Bearcats will look to wash away the Sharks like they did Zachary last week in a 42-21 victory over the Broncos with 435 total yards of offense. Running back Jordan Hayes did most of the work as he lived up to “The Jet” nickname with 232 yards of offense and 4 total touchdowns, putting up over 200 yards of offense in the second half to help Ruston blow out Zachary.
Tonight, the Bearcats will need Hayes and their entire offense to be ready to take advantage of opportunities against a Southside defense that’s only allowing 15 points per game this season, with Acadiana being the only team to crack 21 points against them. Acadiana is the only common opponent between Ruston and Southside, with the Bearcats beating the Wreckin’ Rams 35-27, while Southside lost 43-10.
Ruston too has regained its legs on defense during its last three games, giving a total of 21 points with two shutouts. The Bearcats held Zachary’s DaVekio Ruffin to under 175 yards a week ago after the speedy back gained 300- plus years in games against Catholic-Baton Rouge and Sam Houston.
The Sharks have taken a big step forward defensively after allowing over 26 points per game last season, while their offense has continued to lean on the run game without apologies. Southside is averaging 33.4 points per game in its flexbone offense, including 41 points per game over its last four games behind an effective one-two punch in the backfield.
“Really similar to what Byrd does with the flex-bone, and some variations of that. There are a lot of things to look at,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said of Southside’s offense. “It’s hard to prepare for and you try to get your guys to simulate that. That’s the toughest thing this week is trying to simulate what those guys do offensively. We do have some semblance of what it is they’ve done that we’ve played against Byrd in the scrimmage so you’re able to remind them of some things. We’ll look at that and show the kids what it is they need to prepare for.”
Preparing to contain senior tailback Ramon Singleton — 172 carries for 1,132 yards and 12 touchdowns — would be a good start as the top threat for the Sharks. Justin Williams, a fellow tailback, has 924 yards and 10 touchdowns as well. Baugh knows the offensive system is a challenge to simulate one-for-one but he’s confident his staff can get players prepared.
“They’ve got a young quarterback and fullback – very tough kids that operate their offense,” Baugh said. “But they really want to try to get the ball to their guy. He’s as good as any of the others we’ve seen. Hopefully, we can get lined up correctly. They do a lot of different things in their formations, and they’ll get lined up in unbalanced formations at times. If you bust an alignment against what they do, they can get it scored.
“Everybody at this point is a good football team, and they present problems, not just by what they do, but they have some good players too on top of that,” he added.
Ruston’s own backfield hit a brief setback last week against Zachary with senior Dylone Brooks going down in the second half with a leg injury, forcing him to sit out most of the final 30 minutes. He finished with 5 carries for 19 yards but has proven to be the thunder to Hayes’ lightning with 772 yards and 7 TD this year.
Good news is, Baugh expects Brooks to be available to play tonight against the Sharks to give Ruston a full arsenal of weapons.
“I feel like all of them will be full-go,” Baugh said of the team’s health.
The Sharks are still a relatively new program and are making only their second appearance in the quarterfinals. But they are led by head coach Jess Curtis, who won three state championships while coaching the Many Tigers.
This is Ruston’s seventh straight trip to the quarterfinals, a round which has been successful in back-to-back seasons with wins over Denham Springs in 2022 and Walker in 2023. Overall, the Bearcats have won five straight playoff games.
The game is set for tonight at 7 p.m. at Hoss Garrett Stadium. The winner will advance to the semifinals to play the winner of Airline and Destrehan.
