Brantley's epic night lifts Ruston past Acadiana

If you had any doubts about Josh Brantley’s ability to turn in a big performance after last year’s state championship game, Ruston’s senior quarterback put questions to rest Friday in the Bearcats’ 35-27 thrilling win over No. 3 Acadiana to open the year.

With 192 passing yards and 2 touchdowns through the air along with 159 rushing yards and 2 more scores, Brantley delivered an all-time performance to set the tone that the Bearcats are far from a state championship hangover. He made sure of that Friday.

“I wanted to show people what they’ve been doubting me about,” Brantley said. “Everybody was saying I was one-dimensional. I wanted to show everybody I can come out here and perform like that. Y’all can expect that every game of the season.”

Brantley put up three total touchdowns in the first half with a 43 and 63-yard rushing scores on quarterback-option, along with a 50-yard passing strike to Joran Parker down the Acadiana sideline.

After Ruston’s forced a three-and-out of the Rams to open the second half, Brantley stamped his performance with a 41-yard touchdown to sophomore tight end Ahmad Hudson to put the Bearcats in front 35-20.

Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh knew his quarterback wanted to prove something. He and offensive coordinator Earl Griffin were happy to oblige.

“More of the same,” Baugh said when asked what Brantley showed Friday. “That’s the big thing that we wanted to see was him being able to do what he did in the state championship game. Very proud of him. Acadian’s a really good football team. We found a way to win. We made some mistakes. It was week one. We’ve got some things to get better at but saw a lot of fight out of our guys with what they do on offense. I think our defensive line dug in and do what we needed to do.”

Ruston’s defense started the night strong, forcing two punts. The early momentum went to the Bearcat offense on the first drive that went 15 plays and over 6:00 of clock ended with a Jordan Hayes 8-yard score on a toss for a 7-0 lead. Overcoming three penalties and two fourth downs conversions on the following drive, Brantley took off for a 43-yard score on a keeper on 4th down the Ruston sideline. He got the edge for a 14-0 lead with 20 seconds left in the 1st quarter.

Ruston’s third drive went nowhere to force a punt, but the Rams wrecked the attempt and blocked the kick, falling on the ball at the 3-yard line. On the ensuing play, Acadiana punched in a rushing score for a 14-7 game.

Ruston answered on its next drive as Brantley put up a 50-yard scoring bomb to a streaking Joran Parker who extended his hands and caught the ball a foot off the ground as his momentum looked to be carrying him to the ground. But Parker stayed upright and tumbled into the end-zone for a loud punch back for the Bearcats to lead 21-7.

Acadiana went methodical and scored to make it 21-14 with 3:26 in the first half left, starting to find big pass plays.

Brantley wasn’t done with a 63-yard score on a keeper again on Ruston’s fourth play of its drive, streaking down Ruston’s sideline after getting the edge and taking off for a 28-14 lead with 1:59 left.

“I’ve been working on my speed this offseason. That’s one thing I’ve always been doubting myself about. But it’s there now,” Brantley said.

Execution continued to lack for Ruston as the first half ended with Acadiana putting up a late score, taking advantage of missed tackles and open receivers to drive to the Ruston 2-yard line. A penalty was briefly pushed back to the 7 but Acadiana scored as time expired but missed the PAT to trail Ruston 28-20 at halftime.

“We overcame some mistakes in the first half,” Baugh said. “You really don’t want to put yourself in that spot to have to do that. Proud of our guys. You know when bad things happen you gotta move on to the next snap. Those were some of the things we gotta clean up.”

Ruston made up for late setbacks in the first half right out of the gate in the second half with a 41-yard strike to Hudson for the lauded sophomore’s second touchdown in his young career.

“Ahmad’s wanted a touchdown for so long and I finally gave him a chance,” Brantley said. “When he felt that nobody was on him, he started picking them knees up and going.”

Acadiana made the fourth quarter a one-score game after punching in a rushing score with 4:30 left to play after Ruston went quiet for consecutive drives. But the Bearcats finished the job with a fourth-down sack of Acadiana as time expired to send Ruston faithful into a frenzy.

So much for a hangover.

No. 1 Ruston (1-0) will return to Hoss Garrett Stadium next week for a matchup with Cabot, Arkansas.