By DAUCY CRIZER
NEDERLAND — Needing a win to keep its playoff hopes alive, Nederland came out swinging Friday night and held off visiting Vidor for a 22-20 win at Bulldog Stadium.
Nederland improved to 4-5 overall and evened its record at 3-3 in the District 20-4A. The Bulldogs close out the regular season Friday at Lumberton, which is 2-4 in district play following its win over Little Cypress-Mauriceville.
The math is simple for the Bulldogs next week; win and you’re in. For as many injuries as Nederland has endured this season, that would be quite an accomplishment.
“We’ve had some great battles with Vidor over the years and tonight was no exception,” said Nederland coach Larry Neumann. “You’ve got to know what I know to really appreciate this victory. We may have lost another player tonight, although I hope Marcus Louviere’s injury is not too serious.
“Every coach in America talks about injuries. I’ve been in this for 35 years, and you always have some injuries. I have never seen a season with the epidemic of injuries to key players that we’ve had this season. We’ve never had our team together this entire year.
“But I’ll tell you what. Whoever was here has been battling their behinds off and that’s why we won tonight. The kids have kept playing hard and that’s what you have to do when you’re all beat up.”
Right from the opening kickoff, which Brent Salenga returned 30 yards to the Vidor 45, the Bulldogs played like a team on a mission. Junior quarterback Dionte Forney completed a screen pass to Grant Lovelady for 11 yards on Nederland’s first play from scrimmage.
Forney capped the six-play drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Brady to give the Bulldogs a quick 7-0 lead.
Nederland’s defense forced the Pirates in to a three-and-out and on fourth down the snap from center went through the punter’s leg and through the end zone for a safety. That increased the Bulldogs lead to 9-0.
Vidor (6-3, 3-3) used big plays in the running game to break through in the second quarter. Facing third-and-16 from its own 10, Kevin Tate escaped some would-be tackles and raced down the sideline 87 yards to the Nederland 3.
Nick Dozhier called his own number on a quarterback sneak from a yard out two plays later. Jacob Grant’s extra point was blocked following a low snap to make the halftime score 9-6.
Vidor scored on the opening drive of the third quarter to take its first lead of the game at 13-9. Dozhier hit Jake Travis on third-and-12 for 31 yards to the Nederland 35, which was his only completion of the game.
Shayne Pittman carried the ball four straight times to cap the 7-play drive, the last of which went for a 13-yard touchdown.
Nederland answered right back with a scoring drive of its own. Forney hit Stephen Schlett for a 12-yard pass and capped the drive with a 10-yard scoring stike to Brady on a perfectly executed slant route.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 22-13 on its next possession. Facing third-and-4, Forney flipped a shovel pass to Joey Ruzick just beyond the line of scrimmage. Ruzick turned up field and raced through the Pirate defense for a 44-yard touchdown.
Vidor used a grinding 14-play, 74-yard drive that took 7:46 off the clock to pull within two points at 22-20. Pittman was stopped short of a first down on third-and-7, but was aided by a personal foul face mask penalty against the Bulldogs. He scored six plays later on an 8-yard run.
The Pirates tried to mount one last scoring drive with under five minutes remaining. Facing second-and-20, Dozhier rolled out to pass and was sacked for a 10-yard loss.
However, Nederland was flagged for a personal foul call for a late hit on the quarterback that gave the Pirates first-and-10 at the 50 with just under two minutes to play.
On the next play from scrimmage, Dozhier was hit in the back field and fumbled the ball. It was recovered by the Bulldogs Chris Tillman.
Forney completed 12-of-22 passes for 203 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Nederland offense. He has thrown six touchdown passes in his two starts at quarterback. His favorite target was Brady, who caught five passes for 92 yards. Lovelady rushed for 59 yards on 17 carries.
“He got a little better over a week’s time,” said Neumann of Forney’s progress. “His decision making was much better tonight. He was more mentally into the game. If he keeps improving that much over three days of practice, he’s going to be lighting it up. He’s obviously got the athletic ability. He’s developed some chemistry with Ryan Brady and they’ve had two good weeks of practice. We’re going to keep building on that.”
Vidor had two players rush for over 100 yards and finished the game with 261 yards on the ground. Tate led all rushers with 154 yards on just eight carries and Pittman added 103 yards on 28 totes.
“Two weeks ago we told the players we were in a three-week season,” said Neumann of his team’s mind set. “We knew that were were not eliminated and we clearly defined for the players what our possibilities were. If we win these three weeks then we have a chance at the playoffs and a championship. So far we’ve won twice.
“It won’t be easy at Lumberton. They’ve handled us pretty easy the last couple of year’s, so we know it’s going to be a tough battle.”
NEDERLAND 22, VIDOR 20
VID 0 6 7 7 — 20
NED 9 0 13 0 — 22
Scoring summary
NED — Ryan Brady 23 pass from Dionte Forney (Taylor Trahan kick)
NED — Safety
VID — Nick Dozhier 1 run (Kick failed)
VID — Shayne Pittman 13 run (Jacob Grant kick)
NED — Brady 10 pass from Forney (Kick failed)
NED — Joey Ruzick 44 pass from Forney (Trahan kick)
VID — Pittman 8 run (Grant kick)
VID NED
First downs 15 14
Rushes-yards 48-261 28-80
Passing 31 203
Total yards 292 283
Comp-Att-Int 1-4-0 12-22-0
Punts-Avg. 2-31.5 4-43.0
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 0-0
Penalties-Yards 8-45 8-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—VID: Shayne Pittman 28-103, Kevin Tate 8-154, Nick Dozhier 10-(-17), Jake Travis 2-21; NED: Grant Lovelady 17-59, Dionte Forney 6-5, Trevin Sonnier 2-4, Nick Cardenas 2-11, Brent Salenga 1-1.
PASSING— VID: Dozhier 1-4-0—31; NED: Forney 12-22-0—203.
RECEIVING—VID: Travis 1-31; NED: Ryan Brady 5-92, Stephen Schlett 2-25, Lovelady 2-17, Joey Ruzick 1-44, Sonnier 1-16, Salenga 1-9.
