Explosive. Fast. Deadly.
Those words are often used when trying to describe Bastrop’s offense.
As District 16-4A action begins on Friday, coaches around the district are not looking too forward to having to figure out how to stop Bastrop and, more importantly, Josiah Monroe.
“I haven’t really seen (Bastrop) play this year,” said Connally coach Howard McMahan. “I do know this, they have a tremendous player at the QB and when you have that, you have a chance to be very good.
“I have been following their scores and they are putting points on the board. Coach (Gerald) Perry has a keen offensive mind and has done a great job with those kids.”
The pulse for Bastrop’s offense is Monroe’s abilities to be a dual-threat.
He leads the team in rushing with 294 yards and passing with 968 yards and has scored 116 points in just four games.
As a matter of fact, he has scored 74 points more than Elgin quarterback Dylan Scott, who is second in Bastrop County in scoring.
“(Josiah) is a phenomenal player and an unbelievable athlete,” said Manor head coach Shad Jackson. “I haven’t seen film or anything on them yet, but the buzz has been about that quarterback.”
As an offense, Bastrop has been much more balanced since Perry installed the spread offense upon his arrival in 2007.
The Bears have rushed for 760 yards, and have thrown for 968 and average 432 yards and 44.3 points per game.
It’s hard to beat a team when you score that many points.
“Josiah takes what the defense gives him,” Perry said. “Last year, we were unable to run the ball effectively. We are much more balanced… if we need to throw it 50 times we can. If we have to run it 50 times we can do that too.”
Bastrop’s running game has seen the most improvement.
Last year, Bastrop ran for just 1,230 yards as a team.
Monroe accounted for 715 of those yards with Adam Mack being the second leading rusher with 234.
Marcus Reed and Trae Bunton have combined for 248 yards in just four games and Reed is just 98 yards from passing Mack’s 2009 total with six games to go.
“With our offense, teams have to decide what they want to do,” Perry said. “Do they want to blitz Josiah (Monroe) and let him scramble or hold back and let him beat you with the pass.
“Teams really have a hard time figuring out what to do with us.”
Another difference in this year’s offense is that Bastrop does not have a go-to wide receiver.
Josh Taylor leads the team in receptions (13) and yards (291), but there has been a different receiver to lead the Bears each week.
Buddy Nunn has caught four touchdown passes and has 203 yards while D.J. Gaines has 120 yards on eight catches and leads Bastrop with five touchdown catches.