Second half explosion
Ruston has proved to be a second half team through its first three games, but the late explosiveness reads all the same on the scoreboard.
Despite missed opportunities in the opening periods, the Bearcats’ second half was a welcomed sight in a 28-17 win over Cabot on Friday, moving Ruston to 2-1 on the season.
After Cabot seemed to have grabbed the momentum by taking the opening kickoff of the second half into the red-zone, and scoring a touchdown to make it 10-7 two plays later, the Bearcats needed a spark it was looking for if they were to pull off another road win.
They got more than that, and it came from both sides of the ball.
With Will Fendley connecting on a 39-yard field goal to make it 13-7, Ruston’s big-play ability was on full display, even in the shadow of its own end zone.
After a first down rush for Jordan Hayes went for two yards, Ruston quarterback Josh Brantley loaded up and took a shot downfield to true freshman Ahmad Hudson in triple coverage.
Not only did Hudson come down with the catch, but he also did his best Odell Beckham Jr. impression in the process, extending out one hand and hauling in the 38-yard pass for a jaw-dropping first down.
On the next play, Scott was gone on his own impressive catch on a 60-yard touchdown on a pass from Brantley. Scott also caught a two-point conversion to put the Bearcats up 21-7 and cruise from there.
“Yeah, that’s pretty big out of a 14-year-old freshman to be able to make a play like that,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said postgame. “He needs to be able to make those plays. I think people see why he’s got a couple scholarship offers at his age. He’s got some things to work on but just that natural ability I think is good. I think with Zhy, we know he can catch the football too. I thought the coaches did a good job at halftime where they saw some things in their coverage where we would be able to take advantage of and we made the plays.”
Hudson finished with one catch for 38 yards while Scott finished with three grabs for 99 yards and a score. Brantley went 10-18 passing for 182 yards and one touchdown.
Ruston faced familiar first half issues, scoring one touchdown on four trips inside the Cabot 28-yard line after increased pressure from the Panthers and negative yardage from Bearcat running backs.
Jordan Hayes got the scoring started with a two-yard score to go with a 35-yard field goal from Fendley in the second quarter as the Bearcats finally cashed in after a deflating opening drive.
The first drive of the night set up the story of the first half, as the Bearcats started strong with a 31-yard toss to Hayes but the drive ended up nowhere as Ruston ended up turning the ball over on downs at the Cabot 25 yard line.
Ruston punted its next two drives and finally got things rolling on the Hayes score.
“It’s two long trips back-to-back, but I think our kids handled it well,” Baugh said, before taking a humorous look at the schedule on the K104 Scoreboard Show. “I don’t know who made this schedule but we need to run him off.”
On Cabot’s next drive, Ronald Finley came flying in to force a fumble recovered by Nate Johnson with nine seconds left in the first quarter to set Ruston up inside the 21 that set up the Hayes 4th-down touchdown
Ruston recovered a failed kickoff recovery by Cabot on the ensuing kickoff to set up shop at the Panthers’ 15 but had another turnover on downs.
As the offense struggled to find paydirt, Ruston’s defense was sharp as ever. In fact, Cabot didn’t pick up a first down until 3:55 left in the first half and 62 yards of offense at halftime.
Ruston added to its lead in the second half thanks to Dylone Brooks’ hard running from four yards out to make it 28-7.
Cabot tried to make it interesting with a late touchdown with 2:30 left, but Ruston ran out the clock on its following series.
Hayes finished with 25 carries for 177 yards and a touchdown while Brooks ended with eight carries for 27 yards and a score.
Now, the Bearcats return home and shift focus to a star-studded Lafayette Christian team.
“Lafayette Christian comes into town next week, but we have that one at home,” Baugh said. “They are a really good team and that’s why we need to get back to work and clean a lot of things up,” he said. “That’s why we play this schedule, so we can get better and work on the things we need to work on.”
Ruston (2-1) hosts Lafayette Christian (3-0) next Friday at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
