NEDERLAND - Whether it was revenge or just a brilliant performance, the Nederland Bulldogs came out ready to play from the opening kickoff in Friday's 58-8 rout of Central in the District 20-4A opener for both schools at Bulldog Stadium.

Nederland (3-2, 1-0) had lost to Central in each of the last two seasons, including a 20-0 setback last year in Bulldog Stadium.

"Revenge. I don't know about that," Nederland coach Larry Neumann said in response to the motivation for the game. "I'll say this. A lot our players remember last year and the year before that. That's why it wasn't hard to sell them on Central heading into this week.

"They know who Central was and how physical a game we've had with them. I don't think we were flat tonight, I'll put it that way. I think we were ready to play."

Senior quarterback Dustin Hood put on a passing clinic, completing 9-of-10 passes for 191 yards and five touchdowns. His only incompletion was intentional to avoid taking a sack.

 

"Dustin has been at the top of the list of guys that have consistently performed well all year long," Neumann said of his senior quarterback. "I can count on one hand the number of bad decisions he's made this season. He's like a coach on the field. He does a lot of things that average high school quarterbacks can't do.

"He's so good from the neck up it's unbelievable. You put his physical abilities with that and it really makes him special."

Sophomore tailback Micah Mosely carried the ball 14 times for 138 yards and was on the receiving end of a Hood touchdown pass for another 30 yards.

For the game, Nederland amassed 489 total yards, 281 on the ground and 208 through the air. The Bulldogs were so dominant on offense that eight of their first nine plays went for first downs, they faced a third down just once in the first half and never really came close to punting the entire game.

"I think when we look at the video and evaluate it in a more critical way we are going to see a more solid football game in things that we did this week that is going to make us pleased with our improvement," Neumann said in his initial assessment of the game. "Some of the things that have been nagging at us over the last few weeks I think we improved in those areas tonight.

"We're pleased with the progress. We've asked a lot of the kids and they keep willing to do it. As long as that's the case, we got a chance."

Not to be outdone was the Bulldogs defense, which limited the Jaguars to just 118 yards of total offense on nine first downs, and forced three turnovers. Nederland allowed just one scoring drive in the second quarter and held the Jaguars to just 36 yards in the second half.

"I don't know if letting No. 1 (Jordy Matherson) break one like he did is defensible," said Neumann in reference to Matherson's 27-yard scramble that set up Central's only score. "We expected him to break it. He's a talented young man and he's hurt us the last couple of years.

"I thought our defense, particularly our pass coverage, was a lot better than it has been. We played a lot of man coverage and it was good to see us play pretty good most all night."

Following a Central fumble, Nederland started the scoring on Hood's first scoring pass of the night. He found Tyler Thompson in the left corner of the end zone from two yards out.

After Clint Whitaker intercepted Matherson's first pass attempt of the game, the Bulldogs took advantage again as Jameson DeLord capped the scoring drive with a 6-yard touchdown run for a quick 14-0 lead.

Central's (0-4, 0-1) third possession stalled at the Nederland 29 with a fourth-and-13. The snap sailed over punter Clyde Robinson's head and bounced into the end zone which resulted in a safety for the Bulldog defense.

On the first play after the free kick, Hood connected with Thompson for a 58-yard scoring strike to make the score 23-0 at the end of the first quarter.

After Hood hit Michael Young on a 7-yard touchdown pass, Central finally got on the board midway through the second quarter. Hood was sacked in the end zone on third-and-seven from the 7 to give the Jaguars their first points of the game and of the 2004 season.

Feeling energized, Central scored its first touchdown of the season following the free kick. Matherson hit Roland Bruno for a 26-yard completion and then scrambled for another 27 yards to put the ball at the Nederland 8. Derek Wagner tried to plunge in from the 1 on third-and-goal and fumbled reaching for the goal line, but Matherson picked up the ball and fell into the end zone.

With just 30 seconds remaining in the opening stanza, Nederland covered 80 yards in just three plays. Mosely had an 32-yard run, Hood hit Cody Deitz for 18 yards and then connected with Mosely on a 30-yard scoring strike to make the score 37-8 at halftime.

Nederland added two more scores in the third quarter. Thompson caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Hood and John Jaeger had a 1-yard touchdown run.

Backup quarterback Chris Laird engineered the final scoring drive as the Bulldogs ate up the first 9:04 of the fourth quarter with a 19-play drive. Laird completed his first career pass on the drive, connecting with Jaeger for 17 yards. Ryan Thompson capped off the drive with a 5-yard TD run.