'Dogs defense muzzles Raider passing attack
NEDERLAND -- Who needs practice?
Out of school and away from the practice field since last Tuesday, the Nederland Bulldogs nevertheless managed to hold District 20-4A passing leader Daren Monk to 54 yards passing on 21-percent (5 of 24) accuracy Monday night.
Meanwhile, Bulldogs Kirk Dean and Jake Askew put on a pitch-and-catch exhibition of their own, leading Nederland to a hard-
fought 21-3 win over Lumberton before a half-empty Bulldog Stadium in Southeast Texas' version of Monday Night Football.
The Bulldogs improve to 3-2 on the season, 2-1 in district, while Lumberton falls to 2-3, 1-3 in a most unusual happening --
school-night football made necessary by last week's evacuation from Hurricane Lili.
Dean, Nederland's junior quarterback, completed 9 of 20 passes for 141 yards and Askew, the Dogs' splendid senior receiver,
matched his career high with seven catches for 105 yards.
He also blocked a Lumberton field goal try and played the entire game at "dime" safety, an add-on to a Nederland secondary
that often featured a half dozen defensive backs in answer to Lumberton's 155-yards-a-game passing offense.
"I was really pleased with our defense," Nederland coach Larry Neumann said. "(Defensive ends) Chase Gentile and Johnny
Pittman really put on the pressure and (linebackers) Darin Smith and Ross Matt were strong in the middle and (safety) Josh Atterberry was outstanding in the secondary."
Lumberton did a good job of taking what the Bulldogs gave them, rushing 31 times for 93 yards.
In fact, the pass-happy Raiders went nearly three minutes before calling their first pass play and ran the ball nine times
on their opening 11-play drive before putting the ball into the air.
"We planned on doing that," Lumberton coach Johnny Fuller said. "We were trying to be a little bit more conservative."
And about Monk's awful night getting the ball to his receivers?
"A lot of that was because of bad throwing," Fuller said. "Our quarterback hasn't played well in a couple of weeks. Also, their pass rush was good. We were missing a couple of linemen, and they were beating us inside whenever they wanted to."
Lumberton was expected to have an advantage in the game as the Raiders missed only day of practice last week, and maybe that
helped account for the game being much closer than the final score indicated.
The Raiders took a 3-0 lead on their first possession, Matt Davis booting a 42-yard field goal midway through the first
quarter.
It stayed that way until Dean hooked up with Askew for a 16-yard score with 53 seconds left in the first half.
Lumberton was still just four points back when the fourth quarter began with the Raiders taking over at their own 40 after a
punt.
Ty Collette, a quick-to-cut, tough-to-tackle 5-foot-6 dynamo of a running back that led Lumberton with 66 yards rushing on
14 carries, missed connections on a handoff. Nederland cornerback Julian Nunez, already with a first-half interception to his credit, f recovered Collette's fumble at the Raider 22.
"It was anybody's game until that fumble," Fuller said. "Our defense played well, up to that point. But you can only ask
them to do so much."
The Bulldogs needed four straight running plays to score, with Daniel Tompkins following a wall of blockers into the end
zone from five yards out. Josh Waite's second of three PATs made it 14-3 with 9:55 left in the game.
The Nederland defense forced three straight Monk incompletions and Atterberry returned the subsequent punt 19 yards to set
the Bulldogs up at the Lumberton 32.
Askew ran 15 yards on an inside reverse to start the seven-play drive. When Dean carried it in from a yard out with 5:38 to
play, it was all over but the homework for Tuesday's classes.
Tompkins led Nederland's 176-yard rushing game with 54 yards on 14 carries. Ashton Cummings had 42 yards on nine carries and
Ben Davis 44 on eight.
Davis played little after the first quarter, bothered by a sore knee and heat cramps.
The Bulldogs' first touchdown drive got off to a most unlikely start, a 62-yard punt by Lumberton's Davis that rolled dead
at the Nederland 5.
Dean completed four passes for 67 yards in the 11-play, 95-yard drive capped by his 16-yarder to Askew.
Next up for Nederland is a Saturday night visit to unbeaten Beaumont Central.