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October 28, 2008

Cardenas sees grandmother, Vidor matchup very important

By Tom Halliburton

NEDERLAND -- Asa Cardenas used his Tuesday newspaper interview as a platform to call attention to his grandmother. He never had to mention her at all.

It's not that Nederland's senior receiver/safety had to do it. He wanted to. The 17-year-old Super Team pass catcher for the Bulldogs could have dwelled on what it's like to play both ways this season. He could have talked about how it changed his pass receiving season significantly this year to be the main weapon in each team's defensive scouting report.

Cardenas announced last week that he orally committed to accepting a football scholarship to play at Lamar University. He probably would have preferred to play for the Texas Longhorns if they would have been interested. There's all sorts of sports-related items, such as the fact that Asa said he planned to play baseball and track next spring.

Yet at the top of his list stood Wanda McCowan.

"You really ought to do a story about her," Cardenas said. "She's the one who really is the hero. She raised four sisters on a minimum wage and she hasn't missed a single thing during all my sports. She won a Mother's Day of the Year award from the Port Arthur News. Since I was about three years old, she has done everything possible to help me."

Asa is grateful to special people outside the family, too. His receivers coach Bryan Spell has been 'like a big brother' to me. A best friend and teammate, Jimmy Swain, has been Asa's closest buddy since they were little.

But the pain of a broken home has been tough on Cardenas since he practically was a toddler. A lot of that pain has been withheld from a lot of people, even many key people in Nederland's football operation. That makes sense that Asa keeps plenty of his private life as private as he can. Now HE’S ready to go public about one very important matter to him -- the Nederland Bulldogs in the 4A state football playoffs.

Asa privately was on the outside of the playoffs, looking in to them last November and December. He might have been this area's finest receiver as a junior but Cardenas would have traded that individual distinction very quickly for even the smallest share of some team gratification.

That's why Friday night's visit to Vidor has turned paramount in Asa's scheme of things. An extremely complicated playoff picture exists because each 4A district qualifies four teams for the post-season in 2008 for the first time in history.

It's so complex that only a tiny number of Nederland varsity coaches understand. One thing has been determined for sure, though. If Nederland does not win at Vidor on 7:30 Friday night at Pirate Stadium, coach Larry Neumann's team kisses its playoff chances 'goodbye' for the second straight year.

"It's a very big game, more than any other game so far, because I would like to go to the playoffs and it's always been a tradition of Nederland to go there," Cardenas said.

The Bulldog in Cardenas really surfaced when he dwelled upon the word, 'tradition.' Do not be surprised in Nederland's locker room on Friday at 7:20 if Asa has uttered the word 'tradition' again.

Nederland (3-3 and 3-2) established a Southeast Texas prep record of 10 consecutive bidistrict victories before that string ended last year when the 2007 Bulldogs missed the playoffs on the last night of the regular season. Vidor (5-2 and 3-2) is favored by state rating services to knock out Nederland on the Pirates 2008 homecoming night.

Anyone who has attended a Vidor homecoming game can explain the rest of that elaborate story. Translation: NHS will have to be at its best.

Neumann often has said a program's prosperity or failure has a strange way of being able to turn on a dime. The Bulldogs' finest receiver perhaps in any era, Cardenas would like to say a few more words to his readers about tradition. He might even want to get up and talk about the word at a Nederland pep rally. ` Vidor has not been to the 4A football playoffs since 2000. That's a tradition that Cardenas wishes to extend. And it's not that he has anything against any Vidor player. It's that Asa has grown up around this high school watching it go to the playoffs.

"Here's the main thing for our seniors," he said. "It feels like you don't want to leave something behind worse than when you got there."

When his contribution to Nederland's tradition ends, Cardenas joins LU head coach Ray Woodard at re-starting a brand new Big Red gridiron grab at glory. And yes, Asa has noticed how big that Big Ray is. He might be big enough to play in Vidor's line.

"He's a big ol' fellow, isn't he?" Cardenas said. "I think we will get along fine. He's a nice man and he's always let me know what I've needed to know about Lamar's situation. Lamar is an exciting opportunity to get on track again and Lamar gave me an offer I can't refuse."

One of the biggest parts of that offer was that his grandmother was going to be able to continue to watch his athletic career. That would mean a special amount to a woman who has done so much for her grandson.

Bulldog Bites: Cardenas and Stefan Huber topped the homecoming night grade book at NHS with an 89, followed by Brent Salenga (87) and Jude Vidrine (86) among Nederland's regulars.... Dogs leading tacklers were Jordan Landry (9 and 6), Shelby Clark (8 and 4) and Grant Lovelady (6 and 5). Landry heads the season tackle numbers with 33 and 22 followed by Anthony Maddox (27 and 11) and Adrian Pina (26 and 18).... Defensive coordinator Delbert Spell has leaned toward returning to Nederland's secondary alignment prior to the Livingston game. Spell figured to go with Jimmy Swain and Cardenas at corners and Adrian Pina and Jake Kemp at safety.... Biggest surprise to Delbert about Asa on defense is "he plays the run very well and he's excellent tackler in the open field." . . . Nederland-Vidor is the Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience game of the week. It will air Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Cable 18.

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