Two dominant signal callers in Jase Watkins and Weston Nielsen are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. After each having a week off, the Pflugerville Connally Cougars and the Bastrop Bears will shake off the cobwebs and hit the field against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Pflugerville Connally is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped last Friday as they easily beat Crockett 62-14. The team's explosion on offense also rewarded Pflugerville Connally with their most commanding win of the season.
Pflugerville Connally's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Taj Gaddy led the charge by rushing for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only ten carries. Gaddy's longest rush was for an impressive 53 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Another pass catcher making a difference was Joshua Whitehead, who gained 109 total yards and two touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Pflugerville Connally's defense and their 3.5 sacks. Leading the way was Bryson Reed with two. Dereon Stevens was another major factor on D, making 12 total tackles (1.0 for loss) and snagged an interception.
Meanwhile, Bastrop put another one in the bag last Thursday to keep their perfect season alive. They claimed a resounding 69-7 win over McCallum. The result was nothing new for the Bears, who have now won three matchups by 41 points or more so far this season.
Pflugerville Connally better keep an eye on Gary Jefferson Jr.. He was instrumental in Bastrop's win, rushing for 159 yards and three scores on only ten carries, while also picking up 45 receiving yards and one TD. Dallas Crescenzo was another key player, picking up 174 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Bastrop was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 278 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Pflugerville Connally now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Bastrop, their victory bumped their record up to 5-0.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Pflugerville Connally has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 219.4 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Bastrop has preferred to attack from the air: they average 302.2 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Thursday? There's only one way to find out.
Pflugerville Connally was taken down by Bastrop 67-21 in their previous meeting back in October of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of the Bears' Nielsen, who threw for 375 yards and six TDs while completing 77.8% of his passes, and also punched in one score on the ground. Now that the Cougars know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
