Bum Phillips may be 84 and long since retired, but he doesn’t seem to have lost his touch when it comes to pre-game pep talks.

With his words still ringing in their ears, and with Nederland’s 1957 AAA state champions occupying the northeast end zone, the modern-day Bulldogs mowed down Vidor, 28-7, before 9,000 and homecoming queen Jessica DuBose Friday night.

Nederland (4-0 and 1-0) so thoroughly dominated the entire air show that the Bulldogs collected a season-high 304 passing yards and also received more of Vidor’s passes than the disappointed Pirates (1-3 and 0-1).

But Bum mattered to today’s prominent Nederland teen-agers. The most famous Nederland coach of them all mattered a tremendous amount to the winningest coach in Nederland history, too. Larry Neumann was delighted to get to visit with Phillips this week. Even offensive tackle Stefan Huber was ecstatic to have the legendary Bum sign a football for him.

“He told us that ‘you have to practice like you play’,” Huber said. “Through repetition, he told us that we would know what to do by instinct... It was special to have him to talk to us. I went home, gtabbed my football and had him sign it. I was ecstatic. It was priceless.”

For Nederland Bulldogs lovers, the season-best 454 total yards by Huber and his offensive mates felt rather priceless too. Nederland offensive coordinator Monte Barrow must have wanted to offer a little contemporary razzle-dazzle for the distinguished honorees of 50 years ago.

The Dogs pulled a 33-yard double reverse on their first offensive play. That may have sent Vidor defensive coordinator George Eskue a message that the Pirates would have a long night in store.

Before they finished, the Dogs clicked in various ways as Asa Cardenas grabbed eight receptions for 133 yards and touchdowns of 40 and 35 yards. But Asa was not finished after his two touchdown receptions lifted Nederland ahead 21-7.

The Nederland flanker accepted a backward pass from quarterback Kirby Bellow and hurled a 66-yard touchdown pass to Reagan Stanley for the night’s final score.

Vidor answered once and only once when quarterback Roman Franklin sprinted 27 yards on a counter-option keeper around his right side early in the second quarter.

Yet in the area of big plays — double-digit gainers — Nederland’s offense produced 12 to Vidor’s 5. And the Pirates never entered Nederland’s red zone again after the final 20 seconds of the first half.

That’s when alert linebacker Chris Gutierrez stepped in front of Franklin’s rollout pass and picked it off at the Dogs 12 with 18 seconds left in the half. Vidor tried the bomb late in the third quarter but Ned safety Reagan Stanley leaped high for an interception at the NHS 34.

The Dogs got ready for the homecoming dance after the next snap when Stanley went deep to snag the lob from Cardenas.

Sophomores normally are left out of the homecoming festivities but Bellow made his presence felt with his most effective passing game to date. The Nederland quarterback completed 17 of 23 passes for 238 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“I hoped I would have a game as good as that but I really didn’t expect it,” Bellow said afterwards.

Bellow’s work certainly met with his head coach’s approval after the game.

“I thought Kirby played very well,” Nederland’s Neumann said. “Kirby’s not perfect but he’s not making mistakes that have cost us a whole lot.”

The main thing that concerned Neumann — as it would with any coach — was that Nederland’s players stayed focused on the task of playing Vidor and blocked out any potential distraction related to homecoming or the 50-year state champions’ reunion.

Larry believed the Nederlanders encountered absolutely no difficulties in that regard.

“We had a mindset going back to last March that coming into this game, none of that was going to be a distraction,” he said.

In view of the fact that Beaumont Central defeated Nederland 63-24 last year at Bulldog Stadium, the Bulldogs should not have any difficulty with keeping their focus next week either. Nederland will travel to Beaumont’s Babe Zaharias Stadium to play Central on Friday night.