'Dogs pick PN-G's pockets, 22-19
PORT NECHES -- Their fates have turned tumultuous, but Nederland's opportunistic Bulldogs have slopped their way into the proper zone.... the winning zone.
Confounding the opposing quarterback, Nederland's secondary followed defensive coordinator Delbert Spell's instructions, aligned themselves in a three-deep zone and picked off four Port Neches-Groves passes an a wet and wild Indian Stadium showdown Friday night.
Those interceptions rescued a head-scratching 22-19 victory over the Indians and returned the underdog Nederlanders back into the important zone -- the 4A playoff zone.
Nederland stayed alive, defeating its Mid-County neighbor for the third straight time and improving to 5-3 and 4-2. PN-G will rehash this one for several painful hours over this weekend. Any way they look at it, the Indians also will go to 5-3 and 4-2 and will wonder why they did.
Tenth-year Bulldogs boss Larry Neumann thinks he knows why. His players bravely held the rope and his assistant coaches devised smart plans. Neumann was exuberant and then some afterwards.
"These kids just raised up," he said. "With all the talk of injuries and suspensions and negative talk around town about the team, this was a heck of an effort."
Neumann spent a portion of Friday night griping at his defensive wizard and assistant head coach (Spell), and telling the Wizard that his secondary should have been in man-to-man coverage, instead of zone. Fortunately for Nederland, Spell disregarded his boss' advice.
Every one of Nederland's four interceptions-- two by Colin Weber both for touchdowns, one by Jake Askew to save the game and one by Julian Nunez to end it -- all occurred when the Bulldogs' pass defense stayed in a three-deep zone against PN-G quarterback Jacob Diltz.
"I was griping at Delbert but he had the right coverages," Neumann confessed. "He (Spell) knew exactly what we needed to do. We've got great coaches on this team. A lot of them are a lot smarter than I am."
Deeply disappointed after a sixth loss to Nederland in nine seasons, Indians' chief Matt Burnett cited mistakes -- six fumbled snaps and four intercepted passes -- as his team's downfall.
"All our mistakes came in one night," Burnett said. "It was amazing with all the turnovers and fumbled snaps that we still had a chance to win. We had been staying away from those things but tonight they showed up big."
Both defenses and kicking games performed extremely well before an actual Reservation turnout of about 10,000 -- and a paid crowd of 12,644.
The Indians led in first downs, 12-11; total yards, 229-194; and rushing yards, 189-93. The Bulldogs led in passing yards, 101-40. Neither side, amazingly, lost a fumble, but four interceptions to one cost PN-G dearly. That's not the only stat where NHS junior Kirk Dean got the better of PN-G junior Diltz. Dean also led his team's rushers with 45 yards on 10 carries, making three huge plays on the game-winning drive.
Nederland went 78 yards in eight plays, covering 4:15 midway in the second half to score the game's final points and gain a 22-19 edge. Dean found Josh Atterberry for a 22-yard gainer and Jake Askew for 23 more to toss the Dogs to PN-G's 33 as the third quarter ended. Then Dean added to his career-high single-game rushing high with a 23-yard keeper off a play fake to PN-G's 10.
Since Dean kept to the right side on that play, he went to the opposite side for eight more yards on the next snap. Makeshift tailback Ross Matt pounded home the final two yards behind Steven Deutsch for a 20-19 Nederland lead. Dean faked another running play and flipped to a wide-open Weber for a successful two-point conversion pass with 10:38 to play.
Weber was used to catching passes by then. The senior safety kept Nederland in the game for a half by running back second-quarter touchdown interception returns of 58 and 50 yards.
The Indians struck with their own pickoff of Dean to open the game as Bryan Harrison ran 33 yards with a deflection to Nederland's 8. Derek Gohlke (10 carries for 60 yards) scored his first of two eight-yard touchdown runs just 2:09 into the game. Then Weber went to work.
Diltz planned to connect with Dylan Brown to his right side but he had to pick up his own fumbled snap, throwing off the timing route. Weber sliced in front at the NHS 42, dashed to the end zone and tied the game with 8:29 left in the half.
Weber enjoyed the spotlight so much that he repeated the trick a couple of minutes later. Diltz wanted to hook up with Travis Hebert, but Weber grabbed it at midfield and scored with 6:43 left in the half.
"It really wasn't my night," Weber said. "It was our night. Coach Spell made some great adjustments against them. We knew we had to make them turn it over."
While PN-G countered with two ball-control touchdown drives in the middle of the game, regaining a 19-14 lead, they covered 54 yards on one touchdown series and 75 on another with attempting a pass. The Indians planned to do something about that 22-19 deficit when Hebert dashed 74 yards on a punt return to the Dogs 12 with 4:08 to play.
The game's leading rusher Allen Baxter (14 for 66) took a pitch to his left side on 3rd and 5 from Nederland's 7. Baxter reached the end zone but a PN-G holding penalty nullified what could have been a game-winning score.
That forced Burnett to face a difficult call -- 3rd and 14 from the Dogs 16 with 2:30 to play. A field goal might have forced overtime but the Indians would try a fateful throwback pass.
Diltz attempted to reach Gohlke in the end zone corner but Askew leaped for Nederland's third pickoff at the Dogs 1 and scooted 26 yards with the runback with 2:16 left. Thanks to the Indians' defense, Diltz even had one more shot in the final minute. Dogs safety Julian Nunez snagged a pass over the middle intended for Harrison at the NHS 18 with 15 seconds left.
"They (PN-G) had kept throwing the quick slant and I told Atterberry to back up deeper because I wanted to take away the middle area," Nunez said.
Given the Indians' aerial difficulties and the soggy conditions, plenty of PN-G fans probably would have preferred to see Burnett play it safer on Askew's athletic 3rd-and-14 interception. PN-G faked the sweep away from his side, but Askew had the discipline to stay in his zone and not bite on the play fake.
"We drove Askew to the back of the end zone with our tight end and Askew did a great job of breaking on the ball," Burnett said. "Diltz didn't see him.
"Should we have tried to play it safe and win in overtime? In retrospect, you say 'yeh, you shouldn't have done it' but that's how the game goes."
Askew said he was fortunate to be in the right position when Diltz fired his throwback for Gohlke.
"We were in cover 3 (zone) and coach Spell told me to stay back," Askew said. "I just broke on the ball and tried to jump for it at my highest point.
"I think a lot of people had been talking bad about my leadership, but I think I proved I'm as much a part of this team tonight as anyone else. There's no me, it's all team."
Askew will be the team's birthday boy next Friday. Jake will celebrate his 18th birthday when the Dogs will host Silsbee. The Indians will have to regroup for another crucial game Friday as they will travel to West Orange-Stark.