By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
BASTROP – The current players on Bastrop’s roster probably don’t remember Bastrop’s last football district championship.
They’ll surely remember this one.
Bastrop rallied late in the fourth quarter Friday to defeat Liberty Hill 35-31 in front of a home crowd at BISD Memorial Stadium to claim the Bears’ first district championship in football in 15 years.
“You know, the last time Bastrop did this, many of these kids were still in diapers,” said Bastrop head coach Jake Griedl. “This is for Bastrop. This community deserves a winner, and it deserves to be a winner… They’re starting to believe it again, and that’s really fun.”
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Things didn’t get off to a great start for the Bears (8-2, 7-0 District 11-5A-II).
On Bastrop’s first possession, a 15-yard personal foul penalty and a 10-yard false put the Bears facing third down with 24 yards to go, Liberty Hill (8-2, 6-1) stopped Bastrop on third down, forcing the Bears to punt.
The Panthers quickly capitalized when Bryce Muchaw broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run to give Liberty Hill an early 7-0 lead.
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It was short lived as the Bears put up 14 points on a 31-yard touchdown run by Ladainian Merino and a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Weston Nielsen to Ramonz Adams on back-to-back drives.
The trio of Nielsen, Adams and Merino accounted for all 21 of Bastrop’s first-half points. Merino rushed for a game-high 158 yards and scored two touchdowns on runs of 31 and 14 yards. Adams caught six passes for 150 yards with touchdowns of 17 and 68 yards.
“This means so much,” said Adams, who played his first three years at nearby Smithville. “Coming from Smithville where we weren’t very good, and then making an impact for this team and winning a district title in my first year, it’s a lot, it means a lot.”
Liberty Hill put up a good fight and held the lead three times.
Morgan Cairnes scored on a three-yard run to tie the game at 14 at the 7:26 mark in the second quarter. The Panthers added a field goal on the next drive to take their second lead of the game.
Liberty Hill took a 31-28 lead with 4:22 left in the game on a one yard run by quarterback Jack Pitchford.
However, Bastrop put together what would be the game-winning drive that culminated with Neilsen’s third touchdown pass of the game, finding Brent Carter for the go-ahead score.
The Panthers had one final chance, but Austin Moilan sacked Pitchford on the final play of the game and the celebration began for the Bears.
“Our staff put it out there for them, and they did it,” Griedl said. “These kids are freakin awesome, the staff is awesome, and the community is awesome, tonight is so big for this community.”
Bastrop will play San Antonio Lanier in a bi-district playoff at 7:30 p.m. Friday at BISD Memorial Stadium.
Liberty Hill will take on San Antonio Sam Houston at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Panther Stadium.