High school football: Quarterback D.J. Johnson's development, RB Bobby Ross spur Estacado offense
Bobby Ross Jr. sure made an entrance into the 2023 season.
The Estacado star running back took a handoff on the team's first offensive snap and faced little resistance en route to an 81-yard touchdown. He capped a five-TD night with an 89-yarder on his final carry, putting him at 262 yards.
That's the type of performance crowds have come to expect from the Division-I prospect.
If the Matadors are to get where they want to go — and in coach William Blaylock's words that's playing until Christmas music is timely — it will require the other half of what the offense got in Thursday's 65-51 season-opening win over Midland Greenwood.
It will require D.J. Johnson.
There were missteps, but the senior quarterback showed promise as well. There was the 33-yard pass he dropped into Devoryea Boyd's arms for a TD. There were the plays with his feet, including a 29-yard scamper to set up his own score.
"He's resilient, man," Blaylock said of Johnson. "He went through some issues last fall. He grew up. … In summer, didn't miss workouts, held down two jobs — he just grew up. You see a kid maturing from 16, 17, to now he's 18 years old. I told him, 'This is your team.' … 'This offense is gonna go where you take it.' And he took that to heart."
Ross has been a known commodity. If Johnson can continue development in the passing game, that dimension could make the scoring outburst commonplace for the speedy Matadors. In addition to the 6-foot-4 Boyd, Cedric Ross helped his QB by sprinting past the defense for a 60-yard TD on a screen pass.
Johnson (55) was also one of four Matadors with at least 40 rushing yards.
"It just makes us a better overall team when now you can't focus on one guy," Blaylock said. "You load the box to stop (Bobby Ross), Devoryea Boyd's outside. … We had some opportunities that we missed that we've got to capitalize on next time, but it's now a full team effort and not one guy."
Johnson was 9-of-21 passing with an interception, and he acknowledged having room for improvement. But he's facing the challenge, knowing the important role he plays.
"I felt really good coming into the season," Johnson said, "because I knew that we had a lot of weapons to work with. … (The passing game) is big because we could do anything on offense that we want."
NON-DISTRICT
Estacado 65, Midland Greenwood 51
Greenwood 6 9 16 20 — 65
Estacado 14 23 15 13 — 51
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
EST — Bobby Ross Jr. 81 run (Joseph Mata kick), 9:33
GRE — Dylan Dominguez 8 run (kick failed), 8:03
EST — D.J. Johnson 9 run (Mata kick), 5:55
Second quarter
GRE — Lucas Stringfield 23 field goal, 11:02
GRE — Dominguez 39 pass from Lincoln Madrid (Dee'Ondric Green interception return), 9:05
EST — Ross 6 run (Mata kick), 5:41
EST — Ross 21 run (Mata kick), 4:47
EST — Devoryea Boyd 33 pass from Johnson (Mata kick), 1:14
Third quarter
GRE — Dylan Payton 17 pass from Madrid (Tatum Pierce pass from Madrid), 6:16
EST — Ross 3 run (Donivan Torrez run), 3:13
GRE — Pierce 33 pass from Madrid (Tylan Booker pass from Madrid), 1:53
EST — Cedric Ross 60 pass from Johnson (Mata kick), 1:11
Fourth quarter
GRE — Dominguez 4 run (Stringfield kick), 6:56
EST — James Bozeman 1 run (Mata kick), 5:10
GRE — Dominguez 25 pass from Madrid (Stringfield kick), 3:43
EST — B. Ross 89 run (kick failed), 3:00
GRE — Cade Rowoldt 23 pass from Madrid (no PAT attempt), 0:00
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: (G) 31; (E) 19
Rushes-Yards: (G) 47-187; (E) 32-409
Passing: (G) 265; (E) 205
Comp-Att-Int: (G) 18-43-1; (E) 9-21-1
Punts-Avg: (G) 4-23.5; (E) 4-30.8
Fumbles-Lost: (G) 3-1; (E) 0-0
Penalties-Yards: (G) 8-55; (E) 16-144
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Midland Greenwood, Dylan Dominguez 22-120, Cade Rowoldt 2-54, Tylan Booker 11-37, Tatum Pierce 1-12, Jasyah Galindo 1-(-3), Lincoln Madrid 10-(-33). Estacado, Bobby Ross Jr. 14-262, D.J. Johnson 7-55, James Bozeman 6-49, Cedric Ross 4-40, Donivan Torrez 1-3.
PASSING: Midland Greenwood, Madrid 18-41-1—147, Dominguez 0-1-0, Nathaniel Romero 0-1-0. Estacado, Johnson 9-21-1—205.
RECEIVING: Midland Greenwood, Rowoldt 6-70, Pierce 5-80, Tyezen Smith 3-28, Dominguez 2-64, Dylan Payton 1-17, Ethan Madrid 1-6. Estacado, Devoryea Boyd 6-115, C. Ross 3-90.
RECORDS: Midland Greenwood 0-1; Estacado 1-0.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: High school football: DJ Johnson's development key to Estacado offense
