Bastrop’s defense should be ready for anything, or anyone, running right at them by now.
They have seen it all.
San Marcos’ dual attack put up 379 yards on the ground against Bastrop’s rushing defense. McNeil and Akins each ran for 236 yards.
It was the secret of success against the Bears.
On Friday, however, Hendrickson found little success against Bastrop’s infamous rush defense.
Kenny Williams, a Texas Tech commit, came in averaging 8.8 yards per carry. The Bears gave him  just 27 yards on 10 carries.
Even their other backs — Damarion Jackson and Daje Johnson — had trouble finding gaps into the Bears defense to run through.
The Hawks ran the ball 31 times, but only three of those attempts went for more than 20 yards. As a matter of fact, only five attempts went for more than 10 yards.
Ironically, Hendrickson found its success through the air. Bastrop has never been a team to throw against.
“Our game plan was to keep Kenny (Williams) from being a factor and our kids executed the game plan,” head coach Gerald Perry said. “We wanted to make them pass the ball.”
Bastrop (5-2, 2-1 District 16-4A) has a new challenge ahead of it this week when they travel to take on Connally and another good running back — Kenneth Defee, who has 813 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 8.7 yards per carry.
The Cougars do not pass that much, averaging 11 passing attempts per game in contrast to 33 rushing attempts.
Bastrop defeated Connally last year on the Cougars home turf and Perry said he expects a good atmosphere, but doesn’t think Connally’s fans will be too hostile.
“Good thing about Bastrop is that our fans travel well and  usually outnumber the home fans,” he said. “(Connally) is getting bigger and bigger crowds because they are undefeated, but knowing our Bastrop faithful, we will have a big crowd too.”

BASTROP AT CONNALLY
Records: Class 4A Bastrop is 5-2, 2-1 in District 16; Class 4A Connally is 7-0, 3-0 in District 16.
Last Week: Bastrop def. Hendrickson 35-21, Connaly def. Hutto 29-25
Last meeting: Bastrop defeated Connally 23-19 in 2009.

BASTROP VS. CONNALLY
Year    Winner    Score
2009     Bastrop    23-19
2008    Connally    28-10
1999    Connally    55-7
1998    Bastrop    30-23
Series tied 2-2
— Michael Adams