The Bastrop football team is bearing down for yet another rushing attack this week as the Bears take on Frisco Liberty (12-0) Friday at Cowboys Stadium in a Class 4A regional playoff.
But ask these Bears (9-3) and they’ll tell you they’ve seen it before.
“Every team we have played here lately has had a good solid running back,” said Bastrop head coach Gerald Perry. “Frisco Liberty has a great back and he’s the bread and butter of their offense.”
His name is Jay Ajayi and he just put 292 yards on South Oak Cliff last weekend in Liberty’s 37-7 win.
Ajayi, listed at 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, has verbally committed to Boise State.
He has 2,027 yards rushing on 199 carries and 34 touchdowns.
Perry said he’s not the same style of running back Bastrop’s defense saw last week in Kendrick Daniels, who rushed for 305 yards against Bastrop.
“(Kendrick) was not one of the biggest running backs we have seen all season, but he was one of the fastest,” Perry said.
Ajayi is slightly smaller than Hendrickson’s Kenny Williams (5-10, 208 pounds), but Perry said he’s a lot like Williams and Connally’s Kenneth Defee (6-0, 195 pounds).
“He’s going to be like what we have seen all season,” Perry said. “We feel pretty good about going up against a good running back.”
Defee ran for 177 yards against Bastrop, but the Bears kept him out of the endzone except for an 8-yard run in the second quarter.
And for Williams, Bastrop is the only team to hold him to under 100 yards all season.
“The kids’ confidence is pretty high,” Perry said. “We aren’t doing anything different, but elevating our level of play.”

Getting over the awe
Perry said he’s a little concerned about the “awe factor” of Cowboys Stadium.
“We are going to get them there early and go through the tunnel and sit in the stands so they can get it out of their system,” Perry said. “They are going to be excited about playing there. I am excited.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.