Larry Neumann knew that if his Nederland Bulldogs were going to be successful against the Forest Brook Jaguars, he would need a strong effort from his defense.

With an inexperienced quarterback leading his new spread offense, Neumann got a sterling effort from both his defense, as well as four touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Kirby Bellow in a 35-12 non-district victory.

“I knew we would need an outstanding effort from our defense and our kicking game,” said Neumann. “And the defense really swarmed around and shut them down. The kicking game. however, still needs a little work.”

Bellow, making his first start in place of injured senior signal caller Ryan Sampere, who broke three bones in his lower leg in the Bulldogs’ season opening win over highly-touted Brenham last week, threw touchdown passes of six, six, 10 and 20 yards to four different receivers. He finished with nine completions in 23 attempts for 115 yards and one interception.

“You could see that as the game went along, he had more confidence,” Neumann said. “It was a spotty success, but it was a success, and this will breed confidence and he’ll build on that. We really didn’t want to have to run it and keep it on the ground because that’s not who we are. Our strength is in our receivers and our speed.”

An interception halted the Bulldog’s first drive, but the defense allowed only eight yards on three plays and the Jaguars punted. Bellow used his running game to move into Forest Brook territory but the series ended on downs at the Jags 3.

After holding the Jags, Dravannti Johnson broke through the protection to block a Nathan Anderson punt, which the Bulldogs recovered at the Forest Brook 14. Three plays later, on the first play of the second quarter, Bellow found Asa Cardenas behind Jaguars’ cornerback Corey Lewis for a 10 yard touchdown pass. Jude Vidrine added the PAT and Nederland had a lead it would not relinquish, 7-0.

The jubilation was short-lived. Lewis atoned on the kickoff, racing 81 yards to the end zone. In a familiar scenario, the extra point was missed, and the Bulldogs clung to a 7-6 lead.

Bellow looked as though he were a seasoned veteran moving the Dogs 62 yards in 13 plays in 5:26. Chris Gutierrez caught a six yard scoring strike with 32 seconds left in the half that made the score 14-6.

So dominant was the Bulldog defense, that Forest Brook was held without a single first down and zero yards in the first half.

“We executed very well tonight, and we have to understand that the constant on this team has to be the defense,” Neumann lamented. “Our offense is a work in progress, and we’ll get our shots offensively like we did tonight. We scored 35 points tonight but it was ugly. But we’ll sure take it.”

Titus Brown returned the second half kickoff 55 yards to the Bulldogs’ 35 yard line. Two plays later, Michael Sigers scampered through the left side of the Nederland defense to pull the Jaguars within 14-12.

Jordan Landry, who spent most of the evening in the Jaguars backfield, recovered a fumble at the Forest Brook 38 yard line. A 29 yard run by Paul Roy, who led all rushers with 66 yards, gave Nederland a first and goal from the nine, and three plays later, Bellow connected with Adam Broussard for a six yard touchdown pass that increased the lead to 21-12.

Bellow directed the Bulldogs 60 yards in eight plays late in the third quarter, before finding Ryan Brady in the end zone on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.

Bryce Breaux completed the scoring on a 14-yard scoring run with 2:24 left in the game.