Week 10 November 3, 2023

#3 West Monroe Rebs (8-1) vs #1 Ruston Bearcats (9-0)

It’s always great when your last game of the regular season is against the best team on the schedule. That will be the case when the West Monroe Rebs invite their arch-rival, Ruston Bearcats, to Don Shows Field on Friday night November 3, 2023. West Monroe currently sits at #7 in the LHSAA Division I power ratings after winning 4 consecutive games and wouldn’t mind jumping into the top 4 with a win over the state’s #1 ranked team. Last week, the Rebs hung on to 28-23 win over a pesky Alexandria team. Although this game may be their toughest test of the year, the Rebs schedule has been quite challenging already. West Monroe’s lone loss has come to Zachary, who sits at #4 in the power ratings. Senior wide-outs, Grant Edmonson and Davd Moore has given the offense and return game a jolt in the second half of the season and have a combined 14 TDs so far.

Ruston is also no stranger to competition, but the one thing Ruston can boast on at this point is the fact that they’re currently the best in the state. The LHSAA’s #1 ranked team has also traveled through a gauntlet of quality opponents this year and has come out unscathed in the process. With wins over Neville, Warren Easton, Lafayette Christian and Alexandria they find themselves nearly one full point ahead of the next team in their class. Coach Jarrod Baugh eyeballs a return visit to the Dome in December, but with the goal of bringing the championship trophy back to Lincoln Parish.

A season ago these teams met in Ruston and the Bearcats came away victorious 35-17, snapping a 25-game losing streak to the Rebs in the process. Ideally for the coaches, players and fans this game shapes up to be a barnburner. Both teams feature dynamic defenses that allow less than 20ppg and a rushing attack that scores an average 3 TDs per game, which tells me that this game comes down to ball control. Ruston’s ground game is led by junior speedster, Jordan Hayes, who has eclipsed the 1000-yard plateau already. The Rebs uses a slew of rushers to accumulate yardage, but junior QB Hayden Federico spearheads the bunch as he maneuvers through defenses in the veer. Although the Bearcats have actually lost on the field this year (week 1 19-20 loss to Easton, who later forfeited) the history books will say otherwise and for the boys in Garnett and Gray, they’re looking to preserve what they see as an undefeated season. West Monroe stands in the way of that goal and rightfully so, this game is also for the 2-5A district championship that the Rebs have won a part of every year since 1996 until last year. This will be a four-quarter battle with a ton of yards on the ground coupled in with some hard hitting. When the smoke settles, West Monroe will have the ball late with a chance to win, but an untimely turnover in the 4th quarter leads to a last-minute TD run by Jadon Mayfield that seals with win, district title and #1 seed for the visiting Bearcats.

Ruston 24 West Monroe 17

Player Of the Game: Jadon Mayfield – 5 Carries, 55 Yards, GW Td Run – 15 Tackles, 1 Sack, 1 Ff, 1 Fr

Area Scores:

Top Ten

#1 Ruston 24 #3 West Monroe 17

#2 Neville 35 Bye Week

#4 Sterlington 17 #5 Wossman 12

#6 OCS 58 Lincoln Prep 0

#7 Oak Grove 53 Vidalia 13

#8 Mangham Bye Week

#9 D’Arbonne Woods 26 North Caddo 16

Alexandria 39 #10 West Ouachita 14

Other Scores

Ouachita 35 Pineville 7

Peabody 28 Franklin Parish 26

Richwood 20 Bastrop 12

Union Parish 40 Carroll 8

Ferriday 37 Rayville 26

General Trass 50 Madison 12

Beekman Charter 24 Lasalle 13

Delhi Charter 51 Sicily Island 0

St Fred 24 Cedar Creek 6

Delhi 38 Tensas 6

Delta Charter 60 Block 0

Mr. Pickems’ Top 10

1. Ruston Bearcats

2. Neville Tigers

3. West Monroe Rebs

4. Sterlington Panthers

5. Wossman Wildcats

6. OCS Eagles

7. Oak Grove Tigers

8. Mangham Dragons

9. D’Arbonne Woods Wolves

10. West Ouachita Chiefs

Just Missed It: Union Parish, Richwood, General Trass, Franklin Parish, Vidalia