Dogs' trio puts bite on WO-S, 18-14
WEST ORANGE -- Since every Dog has his day... sooner or later... Dustin Hood, Ben Davis and Josh Atterberry picked a fine time to have theirs.
Friday night's fourth quarter did not begin until approximately 10 p.m., but when it did, Nederland awakened for its night shift and manufactured one of the more remarkable comebacks in recent Southeast Texas high school football history.
Arguably outplayed and outcoached for three quarters, the Bulldogs leaped from a 14-3 dungeon and summoned the unlikely trio of Hood, Davis and Atterberry for heroics unlike they've produced in Nederland uniforms.
The 15-point rally over a six-minute span allowed the Dogs to overcome West Orange-Stark 18-14 before 7,000 in a controversial, penalty-plagued game at Mustang Stadium.
"I've never been prouder of a Nederland football team in a game of this kind of circumstance," a drained Dogs coach Larry Neumann said. "Our team reacted the way you'd expect a team to do when it has a high expectation."
Favored in pre-season to be among the leading 20-4A contenders, Nederland improved to 2-1 and 1-0. The loss dropped WO-S to 3-1 and 1-1 but certainly did not devastate the Mustangs' playoff chances.
"It was a great football game," said WO-S coach Dan Hooks who handled the setback with class. "Larry (Neumann) and his team made the plays. It came down to who makes the last play and Nederland made it."
Making his first varsity start in place of injured Kirk Dean (pulled hamstring), Hood completed two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and connected on 19 of 34 passes for 197 yards on a night when the outstanding WO-S defensive front limited the Bulldogs to 50 rushing yards.
Those mere 50 included a pair of 19- and 21-yard final-stanza dashes by Davis, who has labored in relative obscurity for more than a season since transferring to NHS from Port Neches-Groves. Welcome to Nederland, Ben.
Then there was Atterberry, who caught five second-half passes, including a play that may have turned this game's fickle momentum for good.
The Bulldogs faced a 4th and 16 from the WO-S 26 with just less than 10 minutes to play when Hood and Atterberry hooked up on a short toss toward the Mustangs' sideline. Atterberry juked defender Quincy Pillette and headed 22 yards to the WO-S 4.
The night's 11th and final penalty against Nederland -- a holding call -- wiped out a four-yard Davis touchdown run on the next snap. But two plays later, Hood got what he had to, faking the counter and tossing a five-yard scoring pass to a diving reserve Michael Brady. A two-point conversion failed but Nederland had sliced the gap to 14-9 with 8:04 to play.
A deliberate safety cut the deficit to 14-11 with 5:28 left, forcing the Mustangs to relinquish the ball again on a free kick. Davis infused life into a 56-yard, six-play game-winning drive by ripping and roaring 21 to the WO-S 24.
"I sat for the whole (first) half and I was antsy to go in," Davis said. "I was wanting to run an outside play because they were pounding me inside."
When the Mustangs became a bit more run-conscious, Hood hit Josh Waite (7 for 74) for the last of three times during the drive. A bootleg switch playcall enabled Waite to sneak into the back of the end zone and catch a 24-yard scoring pass with 2:30 left.
Mustangs coaches were furious after the game that the officials were not flagging Nederland on the play for having a wide receiver in motion before the snap.
"Waite is supposed to run a drag route but the safety came up," Hood said.
How did Dustin perform in his first varsity start? Dean believed he did a tremendous job.
"Unquestionably he did awesome," Dean said. "What Dustin is supposed to do there is fake to the running back, roll out and throw. We were about to call time-out on the play but we didn't get it called soon enough."
Offensive coordinator Monte Barrow was extremely pleased with Hood, especially after he turned an ankle and tossed an interception on the game's first series. Mustangs defender Jasmen Platt tipped the ball in the air and Pillette intercepted, dashing five more yards to the Dogs 25. Four snaps later, WO-S passer Ryan Crouch found Jarman St. Julien open on a 24-yard scoring pass just 2:27 into the game.
Ahh, but then the flags began to fly. Two offsides penalties on WO-S helped the Dogs to get in position for Josh Waite's 27-yard field goal from the right hash with 7:06 left in the opening period. Penalty flags flew some more early in the second quarter when a WO-S possession came up empty at the Dogs 22.
Atterberry played a superb defensive game but it appeared as if it was going to be in a losing cause. Especially when Pillette broke four tackles on a 29-yard scoring run, giving WO-S a 14-3 edge with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.
But (Nederland defensive coordinator) Delbert Spell's defensive dogs permitted one net yard and no first downs in the fourth quarter, further allowing the Dogs offense to gather more momentum.
"It was a heckuva job by Delbert," Neumann said. "Our defense gave us an opportunity to win. I don't think we're a great football team but we were a great football team tonight when we needed to be."
And that goes double for Hood, Davis and Atterberry -- three Dogs who finally had their day.