Just as Bryan Spell coaches it, Nederland’s pass receiving corps catches passes with their hands.

It’s an oversimplification but a great receiver must catch the football with his hands, rather than the rest of his body, if possible.

That’s what Spell preaches. That’s what Nederland receiver after receiver does, regardless of his classification, height, weight or jersey number.

Six different Nederland receivers caught 14 passes for 282 yards and four caught touchdown as the Bulldogs came away from Bulldog Stadium with an easy-looking 35-7 victory over struggling Little Cypress-Mauriceville.

Nederland (4-1 and 7-1) fell in love with the spread offense during the off-season because of its team’s pass-catching potential. Yet the Bulldogs began the year with virtually no proven varsity pass-catching experience.

When the Bulldogs came one step closer to a 4A playoff berth, head coach Larry Neumann gave credit where credit was due. He could only admire the way his receiving group caught pass after pass. He also knew his receivers coach was deserving of credit for making sure it was done properly.

“Without a doubt, we went to this style of attack because of the strengths of our players but to have them come along like this is something we couldn’t have imagined,” Neumann said. “We knew where our players were but Bryan does a heck of a job of coaching our receivers to catch the ball.”

Neumann would like to observe a bit more consistency but his very young Nederland squad would enter the regular season’s final two weeks among four 22-4A teams remaining in the hunt for the league’s three playoff spots.

Meanwhile, a highly regarded pre-season entry, LC-M, fell to 1-7 and 0-5 despite an overloaded night’s work from senior fullback Kendrix Salter. One of the league’s premier runners, Salter carried 25 times for 145 yards and a touchdown but injuries forced Salter to double his workload.

Salter also labored at right corner, handling the unenviable task of covering Nederland’s marquee receiver Asa Cardenas. Officials eventually ejected Salter and Cardenas in the game’s final minutes after a flurry of pushing and shoving.

“We’ve had so many injuries,” LC-M head coach Todd Moody said. “We’ve just had to move a lot of people around and he (Salter) had to step up and play both ways.”

The Nederland receiving numbers actually started with little Adam Broussard, who grabbed five receptions for 81 yards. Cardenas was next with four for 79 and a 16-yard scoring pass to complete the Bulldogs’ first touchdown play.

Cardenas escaped Salter in the south end zone with 2:47 to play in the opening quarter. Asa did not escape Kendrix on the night’s first catch, though. Both went up for an apparent jump ball near Nederland’s sideline. Asa came down with a 34-yard reception.

After the Dogs followed with a 21-point second quarter, Neumann basically placed the remaining proceedings in the hands of his capable defense.

“We challenged our defense to play better at halftime,” the Dogs boss said. “I know we played better defense after that. You’re concerned about the psychological ends of things. I didn’t think we were flat, but we weren’t razor sharp, either.”

This game’s halftime passing stats revealed as much about its outcome as any pertinent statistic. Kirby Bellow, the league’s top passer as a sophomore, had completed 11 of 20 for 255 yards and four TDs by then. With LC-M attempting to run the ball much more, Bears senior QB President Driver was 1 for 4 by halftime for 17 yards.

Nederland’s ability to control the ball with its passing game definitely surfaced in the first down category. Nederland led 11-2 in passing first downs and 19-11 in total first downs. Given the amount of returning experience, offensive coordinator Monte Barrow has molded quite a unit.

The Dogs displayed the ability to sustain one drive. They started their point-parade with a nine-play, 77-yard scoring series. They delivered three mid-size scoring drives and one quickie.

The mid-size drives were capped by scoring passes to Chris Gutierrez, and Bryce Breaux, before Breaux completed the night’s scoring with a four-yard dash around his left side.

When Bellow wished to condense the drive to shorter labor, he guided NHS 71 yards in two snaps with Ryan Brady making an outstanding over-the-shoulder catch and tightroping to the end zone on a superb 62-yard play.

Each time the receivers were effective. Each time Bellow was getting the ball out to them swiftly. Each time Nederland’s defense was shortening the field.

Nederland’s offense never had to start a drive inside its own 20. Actually the Bulldogs attack fizzled some in the third quarter by beginning three possessions inside LC-M’s 30 and scoring only once.

The Bulldogs defense primarily knew it had to stop Salter. Gutierrez, Jordan Landry and ends Dravannti Johnson and Wareall Grogan were quite successful in minimizing LC-M’s number of explosive plays.

Salter gained 31 yards on LC-M’s lone touchdown play but the Bears never gained 20 yards on any other of its remaining 55 offensive snaps.

That’s exactly what Nederland’s defense has to do in its remaining regular-season games — next week at Bulldog Stadium against Dayton (5-3 and 4-1) and in its finale at Lumberton (7-1 and 4-1). Nederland must limit Dayton and Lumberton’s big plays in order to return to the playoffs.

“For all intents and purposes, I think the playoffs start next week,” Neumann said. “We kinda figured it would come down to this.”

Thanks to a bunch of receivers who catch the ball with their hands, Nederland is holding on tight to its playoff dreams.