NEDERLAND -- If the mop above Ryan Butler's neck should roll down a Nederland High School hallway in the future, it would mean Butler has to sit out another game.

  Self-inflicted suicide should seem rather extreme for a young teenager unable to play due to an injury. But that's how deeply Ryan missed suiting out games against Friendswood and Beaumont Central. It practically killed him.

  "Coach, I don't want to do this ever again the rest of my life," Butler told NHS head coach Larry Neumann as the Bulldogs walked onto the field prior to the Central game.

  So far in the all-purpose junior's life, Butler hasn't missed another game since Beaumont Central. There's only been one more since that time. And Butler made sure to make his presence felt last Friday night in his return against Beaumont Ozen.

 

  How much of a difference does Butler create within Nederland's team?

Well, it felt as if the Bulldogs' depth at receiver was totally exhausted without an available Ryan Butler. At least that's how receivers coach Bryan Spell looked at it. Yet with Butler back in the saddle, Spell feels as if he has depth at receiver all over the place.

  But what are we going to do about all that hair on the wide receiver's head? Here's an idea. The Dogs need to take a page out of Houston Texans quarterback David Carr's recent playbook.

  You see, Carr permitted his dark locks to keep flowing longer and longer until the Texans reached the point where they captured back-to-back wins. Houston finally did that in its third season with consecutive victories over Kansas City and Oakland.

David had made a big deal about it. So the Houston media headed to Reliant Stadium on Monday after the Texans' 30-17 win over the Raiders. They had to show video and pictures of the haircut.

  Now we change venues to Nederland where the Bulldogs are having this same back-to-back difficulty that the Texans had.

If Nederland can capture back-to-back wins over Little Cypress-Mauriceville (this Friday on homecoming night) and the following week at Vidor, then maybe it's time for the senior leadership (guys such as Darin Smith and Dustin Hood will do nicely) to tie the junior to a chair and have the senior cheerleaders cut some of that mop off his head.

  Hey, you have to add some to this high school football stuff. It can't be plain, old business all the time.

  "He's pretty dry-witted," Neumann said of Butler. "The words we share with one another can be pretty comical."

  There is one element of Butler's football life that he takes very seriously. Ryan wants to develop a stronger chemistry during the remainder of the season with quarterback Dustin Hood. The Dogs' leading receiver stood up for his senior quarterback on Tuesday, regarding Hood's five interceptions in the 40-37 loss last week at Beaumont Ozen.

  "All the passes that he threw to me, they were on the money," Butler said. "They (Ozen's defense) made some pretty good plays on the ball. None of that was his fault.

  "But I think we can develop a lot more chemistry as the season progresses. It's very rare that he doesn't hit his targets. He's an outstanding quarterback and he knows where to put the ball. We just haven't had that much playing time on the field together up to now."

  A quick inspection of Nederland's game-by-game numbers shows that Ryan's eight receptions for 103 yards were the most catches and most receiving yards in one game by a Dogs' receiver this season. Those also are career-highs for Butler, who almost landed on the 2003 Port Arthur News Super Team.

The biggest shortcoming that worked against his selection basically amounted to the fact that Butler only started to make a significant varsity impact around mid-season.

  Once again in 2004, Butler's candidacy for a Super Team spot only hinges on his ability to be able to be on the field. A shin bruise sidelined Ryan for the second half at West Orange-Stark. You have to think Nederland would have won that 32-30 game if Butler played the entire outing.

Then a deep calf bruise halted Ryan after about a quarter against West Brook. Again, you have to wonder if Nederland could have won the overtime game at Friendswood which Butler missed.

  "It's going to happen sometime, though," Butler said realistically. "Football is a game of contact."

  Long-time Nederland watchers find similarities in Ryan and his father Billy, a NHS quarterback as a junior and a senior. The football ancestry extends further to Ryan's grandfather, the late H.A. Butler, who served as a Beaumont High head football coach and a Nederland assistant.

Ryan's grandfather died in the summer of 2002, just before Ryan and his fraternal twin brother Garrett enrolled at NHS.

  "I loved him a lot," Butler said of his deceased grandfather. "He was always there. He talked to me about sports and stuff. He was a great guy."

  Butler has a fondness these days for another grandpaw, Larry Neumann.

  "There's no doubt in my mind that Ryan could be a running back, a quarterback or a wide receiver, depending on how we utilized him," Neumann said. "He's a multi-faceted player on both sides of the ball. He's supremely confident.

  "Last spring, I think he made a dramatic turn in his focus as a student-athlete. I just think he's become more responsible about his involvement with his academics."

 

BULLDOG BITES

  Nederland homecoming festivities kicked off Tuesday night with a Pots N Pans parade on Boston Avenue and a homecoming bonfire in the Bulldog Stadium parking lot. The Friday agenda starts with an 8:20 a.m. pep rally in the Dogdome. The traditional homecoming parade on Boston Avenue will get rolling Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. Pre-game festivities will culminate with the crowning of the homecoming queen at 7:15 after the presentation of the homecoming court, starting around 7. The homecoming dance follows the game in the NHS cafeteria around 10:30 p.m..... Top film grades against Ozen belonged to Tyler Thompson (84), Micah Mosley, Adam Osgood, Vincent Perricone and Steven Phillips (82), Jordan Rash (81) and Ryan Butler and Darin Smith (80) each.... Senior defensive tackle Trey Thibodeaux would be considered one of the most doubtful Dogs for Friday's 7:30 home clash with Little Cypress-Mauriceville. Thibodeaux has experienced considerable pain from a knee bruise and did not practice on Monday or Tuesday. It was expected that Trey might try to give it a go today....