VIDOR - Andrew Ferguson arrived at school Monday as a Nederland defensive back. He departed that day as a linebacker. What a difference the position change has made.

Delbert Spell and his fellow defensive coaches decided they wanted to tinker with their personnel a bit last weekend. They wished to add some speed to their end positions. They also inserted a familiar solid performer at another spot. Suddenly, Nederland looked like a world-beater on defense Friday night.

Well, maybe suddenly, but not Friday night. Even four days before the Bulldogs polished off Vidor, 44-6, in Pirate Stadium, Spell and his defensive staff already could see the benefit from the changes.

Ferguson seemed to be everywhere that Vidor quarterback Andy Haeggquist and halfback Derrick Viator tried to go. Nederland had switched Ferguson from the secondary to bandit linebacker. They moved talented senior Steven Phillips from bandit to strongside end. Last year's starting cornerback Joel Guidry regained his left corner position. And it all happened after private discussions in last Sunday's coaches' meeting.

Nederland (5-3 and 3-1) showed up with a new spunk and quickness on defense to complement its excellent offensive balance -- 196 rushing and 191 passing yards. Meanwhile, Vidor (2-4 and 1-2) trailed after one minute and even more after six minutes. The Pirates lingered a good 18 minutes into the contest without a first down. They trailed the Bulldogs 27-0 by then.

 

"I found out Monday when we came in for a film session that I would try a new position," Ferguson said. "They (Nederland's coaches) said it was going to be a challenge. I've always wanted to play linebacker. They gave me a chance and I tried to step up. Hopefully, I'll stay there."

Vidor tried to get around Ferguson with about the same effectiveness that cars try to move on Vidor's Main Street around 7 o'clock before a home Pirates game. There's one and only one main artery, via Main to Orange Street, coming off Texas 105 and a game night creates an absolute certain bottleneck.

That's the way Vidor tried to move against Nederland's newest linebacker. It's not the first time that Spell and the defensive coaches have changed personnel during the latter part of a regular season. Usually it works when they do it, too.

"I don't know who suggested it but we all felt it was a good move," the always humble NHS defensive coordinator said. "We wanted to get more speed and get our best athletes out there and it just made us a lot quicker.... Andrew had a great week and it looked like he was a natural. Steven had worked at end before and Joel had started at corner last year. But you never know for sure how it will work until you get into a game."

If your vehicle happened to be stuck in the Main Street bottleneck, you might have missed Nederland's first score. It came only 45 seconds into the game when Dustin Hood and Micah Mosley hooked up down the middle on a 55-yard touchdown play.

Nederland lined up four wide receivers out in the patterns at its own 45, just after Jameson DeLord popped free 23 yards on the game's first scrimmage play. That had been DeLord's career-longest run. Mosley snagged the reception around Vidor's 25 and headed toward Main Street.

Ferguson placed two stop signs on Haeggquist right after that first score, forcing Vidor to go three-and-out. And the rout was on. Nederland covered 38 yards in six snaps with Hood hitting Ryan Butler on a slant for a four-yard scoring pass with 6:37 left in the quarter.

Hood sneaked the final yard just a couple of minutes later after a 29-yard swing pass to Mobley placed the ball on the 1. NHS receivers Butler and Cody Deitz cleared out the right side of the formation by running their routes upfield. Mobley had all the space he needed.

Mosley scored only one rushing touchdown in Pirateland and actually rushed for a season-low 88 yards (on 17 carries) but the sophomore tailback surpassed the 1,000-yard season plateau, reaching 1,055 yards through eight games. He has no doubt at all that a great deal of his success belongs to his blockers.

"At the beginning of the season, I knew we were going to have a good line," Mosley said. "They did a great job tonight."

Vidor's defense never sacked Nederland's quarterback the entire game. Afforded such a luxury, Hood picked apart some three-man zone action and completed 9 of 15 for 191 yards and two touchdowns. The stats gave him a bad shake, though, because Vidor's one interception came when Pirates safety Brad Croak got his hands on a ball which deflected off Mosley's hands.

With Ferguson and friends clogging up everything, Vidor never dented Nederland's 35-yard line until the game's final 10 minutes. They reached the 37 midway in the second quarter and tried for a first down on 4th and 1. Guidry came from behind Vidor's pitch man Scott Phillips to make the tackle for no gain.

"We made those changes this week because we wanted to get a little more athleticism from our ends," NHS head coach Larry Neumann said. "The way we changed it really gave us more quickness. Andrew (Ferguson) was at home tonight, wasn't he?

"But we were focused. Our whole team had a great week of practice. And we keep emphasizing that it's so important."

The Bulldogs will try to do the same this week before they will host Lumberton next Friday night. Vidor will visit Beaumont Central next Friday night.