BEAUMONT -Jonathan Smith experienced one of his athletic career's more traumatic weeks, but Ozen's tailback transferred the trauma to Nederland's defense Friday night.

The Panthers' senior sprinter finally celebrated the end of the week, on the most simple of off-tackle plays. He found room to the outside, explored it and scooted 70 yards for a game-winning touchdown to lift Ozen over Nederland 40-37 in front of 9,000 at Lamar's Cardinal Stadium.

Smith rushed 23 times for 167 yards and three touchdowns after not practicing a single second all week. He started the week, favoring a very painful right knee bruise. The Ozen players and coaches did not know if Smith even could go. When the doctor cleared Smith to go, the competitor in Jonathan came to the front.

Just like the competitor in Nederland's Micah Mosley did. The Bulldogs sophomore tailback dashed a spectacular 21 times for a career-high 242 yards and two touchdowns.

Just like the competitor in Nederland's Ryan Butler did. The senior receiver grabbed eight receptions for 103 yards, completed one pass of his own for 37 yards, and obviously appeared to add a much-needed return to the Bulldogs' attack.

Nederland (3-3 and 1-1) gift-wrapped this one better than Dillard's by handing Ozen six turnovers while capturing only two of its own. The Ozen defense intercepted Dogs quarterback Dustin Hood five times, including twice in the last three minutes.

The Panthers turned out the lights with 2:14 to play when linebacker Gary Hinton retreated into his drop and snagged a Hood pass down the middle at Ozen's 26. When he dashed 33 yards with the pickoff to Nederland's 41, Ozen's celebration erupted.

Ironically, Ozen seemed in deep trouble on the very previous play, when the Panthers' Harry Gunner accidentally booted his punt straight up for 12 yards, giving Nederland a wonderfully pleasant lease on life at Ozen's 32 with 2:26 to go.

With the ease that these offenses had scored all night, it looked for all the world as if NHS might win, especially if the visitors could score last.

"It was a classic football game," Bulldogs coach Larry Neumann said. "My hats off to (Ozen coach) Thomas Brooks. I'm proud of many things we did in the face of real adversity. Give credit to Ozen. They did a good job in their coverages."

Ozen (3-3 and 1-1) had been devastated enough by the Port Neches-Groves blitz last week that Panthers offensive coordinator Del Basinger decided to make some significant formation adjustments, designed to better protect junior quarterback Anthony Boutte.

By deploying more two tight-end alignments and using max protection schemes, Ozen simply put Boutte in a better position to win. The junior quarterback responded by completing 11 of 25 for 247 yards and a pivotal 82-yard scoring pass to Calvin Mickens early in the fourth quarter.

Boutte may have stumbled a time or two, retreating from his center, but Nederland seldom managed to unleash its Killer Bee blitz efforts with great success.

"They're not shy about that stuff," Ozen's Basinger said of Nederland's blitzes. "We went to a lot of two tight ends and a lot of bootleg plays to take the blitz off him. We wanted to try to get him out of the pocket more."

Bulldogs defender Vincent Perricone jarred the ball from Boutte once with about eight minutes to play. It looked critical for Nederland at the time because NHS teammate Ron Mohica covered the free ball at Nederland's 29 with 7:53 to play.

That's when Nederland set sail on its best drive of the game -- 71 yards in 11 plays, consuming 4:17. Mosley ripped out the last three yards from the power I and Zac Wallace added the extra-point kick for a 37-34 edge with 3:36 to play.

While Nederland was finished changing Cardinal Stadium's scoreboard, Ozen's tailback merely was finished changing his jersey. His No. 1 blue shirt had been torn apart on the front side. So he tossed on No. 43 and accepted Boutte's handoff from the Panthers' 30.

Nederland's defense had about the same success containing Smith on the game-winning dash as Ozen's defense would have against Mosley when he popped a dive straight up the middle for 70, pulling Nederland out of an early 13-0 hole.

The Bulldogs actually sneaked ahead 14-13 when the bands played because Clint Whitaker slashed 15 yards on the wraparound draw with 47 seconds left in the half.

That's when Boutte's ability to respond was crucial. He could have permitted last week's PN-G disappointment to linger, but he refused to let that happen.

"They said (last week) that I was playing like a junior," Boutte said. "We just had to step up. I think I did a real good job of eliminating my mistakes."

Even though Nederland led in possession time, 26-22 minutes, and 24-14 in first downs, Ozen allowed Boutte to stay within himself. The Panthers did not try to place too much on his shoulders. They had the running of Smith to complement Anthony's throws.

"I felt no pain at all," Smith said afterwards. "I knew coming in that there might be a little pain but I just fought through it."

Brooks had worried about Smith's conditioning. When the night ended, Nederland's had all the worries about catching up to him.