A lot on the line for Ruston at West Monroe

Jerrod Baugh doesn’t want Ruston worried about making history tonight against West Monroe.

With the postseason around the corner, and the Bearcats in contention for a first-round bye, the last thing on his mind as he takes Ruston (7-2, 2-2 District 2-5A) back on the road to West Monroe is the significance of a win in the all-time series between the two storied programs.

If Ruston beats West Monroe tonight, the Bearcats will have won three in a row in the series for the first time since 1988, 1989, and 1990, but the Bearcats feel they have greater goals to worry about, needing a win to guarantee a first-round bye in the Division I Nonselect playoffs.

“I don’t know how they feel about it. I’m sure for some of them, this could be their last chance to beat us after not beating us on varsity the last two years,” Baugh said of West Monroe’s motivation to keep Ruston from winning three in a row. “For us, it needs to be a confidence builder going into a playoff run just like it’s been for them the last 30 years. And so, I think our guys realize what’s at stake and that there are things we need to ac-complish in this game.”

Ruston started to get its confidence back last week on Homecoming in a 49-0 win over Pineville, rushing for 236 yards at 8.7 yards per carry and forcing two takeaways on defense.

But Baugh knew the page was going to need to be turned quickly to one of the most significant rivalries in the state and hopes his team understands they have one last district hurdle to overcome.

“I thought our kids did what we needed to do against Pineville. I felt like we were the better team going into the game and I told the kids it needed to look like that, and we did that,” Baugh said. “Going into this week, the West Monroe game traditionally has been big around here but really I talked to the kids that it’s a big ball game for us because we have a lot to play for more than it just being West Monroe or anything like that.”

And this isn’t the West Monroe many along I-20 are accustomed to seeing. Kevin Davis is in his first year as head coach of the Rebels ( 5- 4, 2- 2) and has a new starting quarterback this year in Ryder DeJean, a junior, who is coming off a performance against Neville when he put up 19 completions on 40 attempts for 252 yards, a touchdown, and 2 interceptions.

The Rebels also struggled to establish a ground game against Neville, finishing with just 40 rushing yards on 32 attempts.

West Monroe does have talented receivers, led by Trez Davis and Lukas DuPriest – combining for 168 yards on 11 receptions last week.

Baugh is impressed by West Monroe’s offense, led by DeJean.

“ I think he operates their offense well. He handles what they ask him to do,” Baugh said. “ They’ve got a big offensive line and a big full back and good receivers. They like to get the ball to different people and make you defend the whole field at times.”

Ruston would benefit from a week off from play, according to Baugh, making tonight’s matchup a must- win for the Bearcats to give themselves an advantage come postseason time.

“I think if we win, we’ll get a first-round bye in the playoffs which would be big for our team,” Baugh said. “I think we could really use that week to regroup and get healthy and work on things that you really don’t have time to work on when you’re in the grind of games every week. We got to do that last year, and I think it helped us quite a bit because we were able to break things down more than you usually would in a regular week of practice.”

Ruston faces West Monroe tonight at 7 p.m. at Don Shows Field at Rebel Stadium.