Dogs grind down New Caney, 31-14
PASADENA -- Saturday's moist 31-14 bidistrict victory spoke volumes about the maturity and foundation of Nederland's football program.
Eight -- count 'em -- eight straight bidistrict wins enabled the Bulldogs to become one of four Texas Class 4A schools to own such a string of first-round post-season successes.
Larry Neumann's hometown and Memorial Stadium's Astroturf did not inspire the Nederlanders to fabricate a flawless afternoon. But, again, this eighth win of Nederland's season revealed so much about the Bulldogs' willingness to love contact, hit hard, force turnovers and improve defensively as the game progressed.
New Caney (7-4) would make it more interesting than Nederland would wish for a half. But once defensive coordinator Delbert Spell's tacklers settled down and zeroed in on the Eagles, New Caney suddenly found it close to impossible to move the chains.
It's not the kind of stuff which produces All-America and All-State nominations. It's merely the nuts and bolts of what wins games. New Caney did not make a first down in the first five of its six second-half possessions. Chase Gentile, Darin Smith, Jordan Rash and company -- just a few card-carrying Camp Fun survivors -- placed their hands into forcing three straight Eagles second-half turnovers. Again, these contributions often miss the banner headlines but a program can't win consistently without them.
New Caney's fine coach Jim Taylor basically did as much as admit the maturity and physical nature of Nederland's program determined the outcome. The Eagles' third-year mentor did not say that but his comments revealed as much.
"I just think Nederland has a fine club," Taylor said, commending his former Pasadena Dobie instructor Neumann. "We made some mistakes and we couldn't overcome them. When little things happen, you take advantage of them. We just couldn't turn the corner."
Nederland confessed to a major case of hyper-active defense in the opening half, as New Caney rolled up 232 of its 348 yards. Once the Bulldogs settled down, they maintained their lanes, held their ground and refused to over-pursue. That's when New Caney suddenly discovered its lanes a bit clogged.
"We were doing some things from overaggressiveness," Nederland's Neumann said. "That got ourselves in trouble. We told them to settle down. We were overpursuing and we needed a tranquilizer at halftime. Our defense has been very consistent and we don't want to water down our aggressiveness. I think we learned a lesson today by the way we played."
The lessons need to be absorbed in a week's time because Nederland and Richmond Foster (8-3) are scheduled to meet in next Saturday night's 4A Division 2 area round game in the beautiful new Galena Park ISD stadium at 7:30 p.m. A three-touchdown underdog in state rating services, Foster's Falcons rallied for a 49-42 double-overtime upset of Killeen Harker Heights on Friday night.
One of the day's better lessons had to be the patience which Nederland's coaches permitted Ben Davis. Victimized by lost fumbles at the end of Nederland's first two possessions, the senior tailback still managed 114 yards on 18 carries, including an eight-yard touchdown run.
Another lesson had to the teamwork of two unselfish NHS quarterbacks. When Dustin Hood wasn't completing 7 of 15 passes for 129 yards, his older sub Kirk Dean was filling the void with a crucial 49-yard scoring pass to a wide-open sophomore Ryan Butler.
"We worked on that play one time in practice this week and I think it was incomplete," Dean laughed.
Aligned as first-quarter wide receiver, Dean ran an out-and-up to haul in a 41-yard completion to set up Nederland's first-quarter field goal (25 yards by Josh Waite). That's before Neumann put the senior at quarterback atop the shotgun formation.
Dean kept the ball on a first-down play at midfield for one yard. Then he faked the handoff to Daniel Tompkins before flipping to Butler, who slipped behind New Caney's best offensive weapon Brent Turner. The scoring play gave Nederland a 17-7 edge with 2:58 left in the half.
The season's most prolific single-game rusher against Nederland, Turner dented the Dogs for 207 yards on 27 carries and one score. But 180 of those came in the first half. His 40-yard gainer set up New Caney's six-yard scoring pass from Jacob Powell to Michael Miller with 1:08 left in the half.
New Caney never came closer than Nederland's 40 the rest of the way until the game's final five minutes. The Dogs led a cushy 31-14 by then.
"We just needed more corner force because he (Turner) was getting to our sidelines," explained NHS cornerback Evan Foxworth.
If any play let the air out of the Eagles' wings, it came late in the third quarter. Trailing 24-14, New Caney connected on a 49-yard over-the-middle lob to Miller from backup quarterback Jonathan Porter. Miller grabbed the reception at Nederland's 40 but fumbled it forward. Butler scooped it up at the NHS 35 and returned it 25 yards.
Darin Smith had tipped a pass over the middle earlier, enabling Joel Guidry to position himself for a diving interception. Fellow LB Jordan Rash followed on the next New Caney possession by claiming a fumble recovery of an errant pitchout.
Maturity, patience, love for contact, aggressiveness -- trademarks in Nederland's program. The Bulldogs could not have prospered on this rainy Saturday without them.