Alex Moshier rescued Nederland's all-but-dead playoff ambitions in the final moments Friday night and forced their worthy opponents to make a choice.

Just when Moshier, Micah Mosley and Logan Theriot had grown more than tired of raking mud and wet grass from their cleats, the Bulldogs faced a do-or-die third and 10 at Little Cypress-Mauriceville's 31-yard line with 52.9 seconds to go.

It basically amounted to a play which defined the character and the heart of this 2006 Nederland season.

With Moshier in the shotgun, the Dogs senior quarterback really wanted to throw in Mosley's direction but it appeared as if LC-M's right safety shaded a bit more toward Mosley than toward Theriot, who darted from the opposite angle on a post route.

Moshier fired a dart to Theriot whose sure-handed grab enabled the Dogs to have a first-and-goal at LC-M 7. Mosley completed his 26-carry, 142-yard, two-touchdown performance on the very next snap, angling behind his right tackle for a game-winner with 36.3 seconds left.

That plus Micah's two-point conversion proved enough for Nederland to rally from three scoreless quarters and nip a determined LC-M 15-12 before 7,500 at soggy Bear Stadium.

The odds of a 10th straight Nederland 4A bidistrict playoff berth shrunk to slim and none after three quarters. The 12-0 LC-M lead with nine minutes to play certainly appeared as if Bulldogs' coach Larry Neumann's 55th birthday party would be ruined.

Even when Mosley rallied his team on a 62-yard, six-play drive early in the fourth quarter, the possession only trimmed Nederland's deficit to 12-7. Victory still seemed unlikely because Nederland's defense had great problems slowing down the Bears' wing-T offense, and the Bulldogs had converted 2 of 10 third-down snaps before the final drive.

Moshier changed all of that, hitting 6 of 9 passes on the game-winning 85-yard, 10-play series and converted two of two third-down tosses. He finished the night with a modest 9 of 19 for 106 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, but it proved to be the most clutch comeback in his two-year varsity career.

"It was a little cold and the ball was a little slick," Moshier said. "It was a great team effort at the end for all of us by far. Our team has a lot of heart. If there's anybody that can come from behind, it's us."

Mosley probably said it best when he stated that such dire emergencies bring the best out of Nederland's quarterback. Those emergencies certainly did on this night.

Nederland looked as if it turned into a team on life support by the start of the final quarter. The Bulldogs seemed as if they didn't want to tackle LC-M tight end Richard Drouillard toward the end of a 45-yard pass play to Nederland's 18.

Bears fullback Andrew Cooper followed the big completion with a 14-yard slash off right tackle for a touchdown on the third play of the final quarter. A two-point conversion failed but LC-M still had a 12-0 lead with 10:58 to go.

The 22-4A leader in total offense, Nederland seemed incapable of scoring at all much less twice.

"We expected them to take the fight to us," NHS coach Neumann said. "Some of the things they were doing defensively really had watered us down."