WEST MONROE — There was a turning point during the Ruston-West Monroe football game.
The Bearcats struck first on a 46-yard touchdown run from junior Dalen Powell, but the Rebels immediately countered with a rushing score of their own. Ruston punched right back with senior Sam Hartwell’s 24-yard touchdown run, but West Monroe made more chunk plays to get the ball near the goal line.
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Yet, the Rebels couldn’t cash in on the opportunity as they were stopped short on fourth down. West Monroe sparked momentum to start the second half and made it a one-score contest again, but Ruston pulled away to win 41-14 on Friday, Nov. 6, at Rebels Stadium.
Ruston junior Aidan Adams.
“It was a little stressful, but we knew we had one job, and that’s to give the offense the ball back,” junior Aidan Adams said of the goal-line stand. “We knew what they could do with the ball once it gets in their hands. We had to dig deep as a team and get the ball back in their hands.”
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Ruston’s offense continued making magic behind Powell, who finished the evening with 220 rushing yards and two touchdowns. It was a special outing for Powell following his season-ending injury last fall against the Rebels at Hoss Garrett Stadium. His second touchdown of the night, which went for 87 yards, came during the game’s final minutes.
“He’s one of my favorite people, and he’s a great competitor,” Hartwell said. “What he shows out here is just the work that everybody else doesn’t see. But all of that doesn’t happen without those five guys up front and the tight ends up front and the receivers. I think we should start giving the credit to those guys more.”
Ruston junior Dalen Powell.
Added Powell, “I just want to give the glory to God and all the guys up front all the praise. Without them, I couldn’t do (any) of that.”
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Ruston (8-2) is challenging itself further this fall as it seeks a fifth consecutive trip to the Caesars Superdome and first LHSAA championship in three years. It had thrilling victories against Neville, Ouachita and West Monroe (6-4), but it also learned from its losses against Edna Karr and Alexandria.
Learning how to overcome adversity and playing together as a team are two of the Bearcats’ biggest components this season. Among the things Ruston coach Jerrod Baugh wanted to see from the team at West Monroe was to not force anything and make plays happen on their own.
“We’ve got a lot of talent on our team,” said senior Josiah Morgan, who had a touchdown reception. “When we went down, it was just a matter of how we got back up with those losses, and you saw that (against West Monroe), coming out and doing what we’re supposed to do and playing together as a team.”
Ruston senior Josiah Morgan.
Both Ruston and West Monroe know the schedule gets tougher in the Division I nonselect playoffs. Rebels coach DeMichael Dizer wants to see more fight from his team as it hosts a first-round game. West Monroe’s lone loss at home this season is against Ruston.
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“You’ll never know if you keep fighting,” Dizer said. “We’ve got to clean stuff up going into the playoffs. We (don’t) have long to do it.”
The Bearcats were ranked No. 6 in D-I nonselect prior to the West Monroe contest. Their biggest goal this postseason is continuing to find consistency.
“Even if you’re not scoring the football, you’ve got to put together some drives at least to change field position, to leave our defense in better situations and not have to punt the football on our minus end of the field,” Baugh said. “Hopefully, we’ve got a bye next week, and that will be some of the things that we need to work on.”
This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Ruston football pulls away from West Monroe in regular season finale
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