In honor of my upcoming service anniversary here at The Bastrop Advertiser and as part of our coverage leading up to the football season, I have decided to put together a Top 10 list of the best football games in my two years as sports editor.
There were several games to chose from, but these 10 games have everything a football fan could want: Heartbreak, triumph, upsets and glory.
It’s been a great two-years and I am looking forward to several more to come.

No. 1: Bastrop 24, Westlake 21 (Oct. 9, 2009)
AUSTIN — Bastrop shocked Central Texas by going into Chaparral Stadium and knocking off one of its most storied programs.
It was the win of the decade for Bastrop, which defeated Westlake for the first time since 1976.
Josiah Monroe put up 337 yards of offense and had the Bears ahead of Westlake 17-14 at halftime.
Josh Taylor scored the eventual game-winning touchdown with 5:22 left in the game, but it was senior Bernard Blake’s interception on the Chaparrals’ final drive of the game that sealed up Bastrop’s return to prime time in Central Texas high school football.
The Bears went on to share the District 25-5A championship with the Chaparrals.

No. 2: Bastrop 41, Pflugerville 26 (Sept. 25, 2009)
BASTROP — No one around Central Texas would have predicted Bastrop would dominate Pflugerville the way they did on this night.
In the District 25-5A opener, and Bastrop’s first full game in its new stadium, the Bears put up 28 points in the second quarter to lead 31-0 at halftime over the reigning district champions.
Bastrop’s defense held the Panthers’ explosive offense to 252 yards and recorded its only takeaway when Bernard Blake intercepted a pass in the endzone to close the first half.
The win would be Bastrop’s most decisive of district action, but also was a sign of things to come in its storybook season.

No. 3: Smithville 38, La Grange 0 (Oct. 17, 2008)
LA GRANGE — After starting the season 4-1, the Smithville Tigers entered into their extremely tough District 25-3A schedule that featured four state-ranked teams.
After dropping its district-opener to Columbus, Smithville played the best game in the last 10 years and shut down a heavily-favored La Grange team on its home field.
It was the upset of the week around Central Texas as La Grange was a heavy favorite to win the district championship.
It marked Smithville’s first win over the Leopards in nine years.
The win also sealed up the Tigers first winning season since 1999.

No. 4: Bastrop 23, Connally 19 (Oct. 2, 2009)
PFLUGERVILLE —  A week after defeating Pflugerville, Bastrop and the Bears defense went to Pflugerville to take on Connally for a defensive battle.
Connally failed to score an offensive touchdown in the entire game.
As a matter of fact, the only touchdown Bastrop gave up was on special teams when Jacoby Sanders returned a kickoff for 94 yards.
Cougar kicker Kevin Del Aguila scored 12 of Connally’s points, but the Cougars defense kept Bastrop’s offense from putting on another spectacular performance.
Connally held Bastrop to its lowest offensive production of the season (190 yards), but the Bears won by making plays when it counted, including a fumble recovery by Kyle Meyers in the final minutes with the Cougars threatening to steal the win.

No. 5 : Elgin 28, Montgomery 15  (Nov. 14, 2008)
PFLUGERVILLE — Elgin battled 20-30 mile-per-hour winds en route to head coach Danny Lauve’s first playoff win in his tenure with the Wildcats.
Elgin took a 22-0 lead at halftime thanks to a pair of touchdowns by running back Derrick Falke, who rushed for 120 yards on 13 carries.
Falke, however, had the play of the game on defense when he pulled down an interception in the endzone on the final play of the game to seal up the playoff win.
Elgin’s playoff run ended the following week when they went up against the eventual Class 4A-Division II state runner up Dayton.

No. 6: Bastrop 34, Hays 14 (Aug. 27, 2009)
KYLE — Bastrop opened the 2009 season just like it did in 2008.
The only difference being that the Bears dominated the Rebels to record their largest margin of victory (20 points) against a non-district opponent since 2004.
Bastrop’s defense held Hays to 175 yards of offense while its offense was scoring at-will.
Josiah Monroe threw for 272 yards while throwing three touchdown passes.
Bastrop out-gained the Rebels 401-175.

No. 7: Hays 26, Elgin 20 OT (Oct. 10, 2008)
ELGIN — Hays took Elgin into overtime after the Wildcats built a 14-7 lead in the first half and capitalized on a big play from Terrell Jones, who caught a 96-yard pass in the final minutes of regulation.
Jones was flagged for excessive celebration and the Rebels missed the game-winning extra point.
In overtime, running back Derrick Falke was unable to find the back of the endzone after catching a 5-yard pass from Tyler Swenson.
Hays’ win set the tone in District 17-4A and put the Wildcats into a dog fight throughout the rest of district play.

No. 8: Bastrop 34, Hays 27 OT (Aug. 28, 2008)
BASTROP — In head coach Gerald Perry’s first game at the helm for Bastrop, the Bears pulled off an unlikely upset in overtime over Hays thanks to the heroics of running back Dominic Brown, who scored the game-winning touchdown on a 14-yard run.
Bastrop led 13-7 at halftime thanks to a 2-yard touchdown by Brown in the second quarter.
Bastrop, which posted back-to-back losing seasons in 2006 and 2007, was a heavy underdog going into the game with Hays.

No. 9: Westlake 49, Bastrop 36 (Oct. 10, 2008)
BASTROP — The prequel to Bastrop’s win over the storied Westlake Chaparrals was a young Josiah Monroe’s coming-out party.
Monroe produced 443 yards of offense, which was just 27 yards less than the entire Westlake team.
The then-sophomore had a hand in all 36 points scored by the Bears and threw 42 pass attempts, completing 52 percent of them.
Bastrop might have lost the game, but it was this game that won Monroe the 2008 District 25-5A Newcomer of the Year award.

No. 10: Anderson 42, Bastrop 35 (Oct. 17,  2008)
AUSTIN — In a season full of close calls, Bastrop nearly pulled out a miracle on the final drive of a heartbreaking loss to Anderson.
Down by seven, the Bears drove the ball 88 yards in the final minute behind quarterback Josiah Monroe to the 1-yard-line.
On the final play of the game, Anderson stopped running back Bubba Johnson on an outside sweep to stop Bastorp’s miracle in Austin.
Bastrop took a 21-7 lead in the first half, but gave up 21 unanswered points in the final seven minutes of the half.