PORT NECHES — For the 14th time in 20 years, Larry Neumann’s Nederland football team topped Port Neches-Groves, as the Bulldogs beat the Indians 37-12 Friday at The Reservation in Mid-County Madness and District 20-4A play.

Nederland (6-1, 4-0 District 20-4A) came into the game as a heavy favorite and ended the game in dominant fashion, but everything in between was a bit muddled. Both teams played well in clutch situations, converting fourth downs and long yardage situations, but neither the Bulldogs nor PN-G (2-5, 1-3) got on much of a roll offensively.

The star of the game for the Bulldogs, though, was junior running back Kendrick Hopkins. On his way to 184 yards on 27 carries, Hopkins had 91 rushing yards in the first quarter alone. That was more total yardage that PN-G had in the entire first half (73).

“Consistency was the code word (last Monday),” Nederland head coach Larry Neumann said. “The most progress we’ll see from this point forward is with our offense. Kendrick has been pretty consistent. Dannis (Latiolais) being back was big. Three more weeks of those guys being together, I can see that unit running the ball at a high level.

“I think I’m going to look at the video and see more things good than bad. I’m going to take the lion’s share of the blame for how we played today. Maybe I’m just not good coaching in these things when we’re heavily favored. I’ll take the blame for a lot of the bad things that happened, but the good things were all done by the kids. I’m a pretty critical guy, but there was a lot of good stuff in this game that we can build on for the future.”

Hopkins scored the game’s first touchdown as Nederland drove down on its second possession. Hopkins capped the four play drive with a 1-yard run that was set up by Seth Barrow’s 25-yard catch from Carson Raines. On the next Bulldog scoring drive, Hopkins had four carries for 60 yards, including runs of 33 and 20 yards, before Carson Raines punched the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard TD run.

That made it 13-0 with 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the first quarter.

PN-G rallied to bring it back to a one-score game four minutes later on the ensuing drive. The Indians converted two fourth downs on the drive before Jeremiah Rose threw his second TD pass in as many weeks. Rose caught a lateral from A.J. Smith before hooking up with Avery Murdock on a 30-yard scoring pass to make it 13-6 with 10:04 left in the first half.

“Our kids gave great effort,” PN-G head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “They really fought hard. We needed some breaks and we didn’t get them. They never gave up, fought till the end for 48 minutes. Everything we preach, they did, so I’m really proud of them.”

The Indians went for it on fourth down early and often in the game, converting all four of their tries in the game. One of those was a 15-yard pass from Smith to Tim Clopton that made it 27-12 in the third quarter.

“We have to continue to riverboat gamble,” Faircloth said. “We have some kids to believe in it and we were fortunate enough to hit on some of those tonight.”

Though it lacked flash, Nederland’s offense ground out some terrific drives and conversions in the game, but none may have been better than a 99-yard drive in the third quarter. After Smith’s quick kick pinned Nederland at its own 1-yard line, the Bulldogs marched out on the legs of Hopkins and Raines to the Nederland19.

Raines then found Brandon Self for a 12 yard completion, but things backed up for the next few plays, forcing a third-and-15 from the Bulldog 26. Raines found Seth Barrow on a beautiful 35-yard pass up the seam. Two plays later, Raines hit Michael Shaw on a hitch pass that the speedy receiver turned into a 20-yard touchdown.

“We defeated the sticks at times tonight,” Neumann said. “That was a pretty major accomplishment for how far we had to go to do that. Give credit to our kids for not thinking they were done when it’s second-and-25. They’ve got a great spirit about them. They’ve been a second half ballclub all year.

“I think the second half tonight, we did more good things than we did in the first half. We’re excited about where we are tonight, and we’re going to enjoy this victory, but we’re still a work in progress. We’re not peaking too early. The good Lord willing, if we can get into the playoffs, we want to be right when we do that.”

Both teams used trick plays to their advantage, as Rose tried two passes, connecting on the long TD to Murdock and just missing Smith on a throwback play down the left side. Nederland’s Zach Taylor hit his own QB Carson Raines on a similar throwback play in the fourth quarter that kept a drive alive that ended in a 34-yard Tanner Noel field goal to make it 30-12.

For Nederland, though, big plays came in bunches. The NFL tracks a stat it calls “explosive plays,” which is any play that goes for 20 yards or more. The Bulldogs had six of those in the game, and they all came at crucial times.

On the night, Raines was 7 for 14 passing for 140 yards with one TD. Barrow finished with two catches for 60 yards, just missing a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a pass that was broken up by PN-G’s Dalton Peveto. Shaw finished with three catches for 34 yards while Colton Kimler had one catch for 34 yards.

Similarly, the Bulldogs were able to use their opportunistic defense to force three turnovers on the night, including the 11th and 12th interceptions of the season. Jordan Wood got the second pick, grabbing a tipped Smith pass and racing 82 yards for a score, which was Nederland’s fifth interception return for a TD this season.

That ended another nice PN-G drive short of points, a theme of the second half. Despite gaining almost 200 yards of offense and almost tripling thier offensive production from the first half, the Indians fell short time and again.

“Give credit to them, they’ve got a really good team,” Faircloth said. “I though offensively we did some good things at times. We just couldn’t put enough of them together to end up with points.”

Rose and Smith shared the Indians’ MVP honors, as District 20-4A’s leading receiver Rose ended up with nine catches for 115 yards. Rose was especially effective at catching short passes, either on bubble or middle screens, and turning up the field for big yardage.

Smith completed 13 of 25 passes for 148 yards with one TD and two INTs. The senior also rushed for 72 yards on 14 carries.

On defense, the Indians were led by linebacker Robert Dawson and Dalton Peveto, who each had 10 tackles. Leonel Arredondo, Austin Milan and Corbin Coy each had one sack for PN-G.

For Nederland’s defense, Colton Kimler led the way with eight tackles, while defensive tackle Brock Pryor had seven, including one for a loss. Koby Couron added a sack while Korbin Stamply broke up a pass and Sage Seay had an interception.

Nederland will host Beaumont Ozen next week while PN-G travels to Vidor.



Nederland 37, Port Neches-Groves 12

Tipping point: Up 13-6 in the second quarter, Nederland faced a second-and-24 from the PN-G 49. Kendrick Hopkins gained 13 yards on the second down play and Carson Raines gained another 13 on third down to convert. Four plays later, Hopkins scored his second TD and PN-G never got within one score again.

Random stat: PN-G had three bad snaps over A.J. Smith’s head that cost the Indians 42 yards.

“Special” teams: Kaleb Clark boomed a 55-yard punt for PN-G in the second quarter, the third-longest punt in the district this season. Smith also had a nice quick kick to pin Nederland at its own 1-yard line.

On offense: Only nine of Hopkins’ 27 carries on the night were for less than 5 yards. Hopkins did not have a rush for negative yards all game.

Missed opportunities: On two straight drives in the fourth quarter, PN-G got down inside the Nederland 20 and came away with no points. On the first drive, Smith was intercepted at the 18 by Jordan Wood. On the second, PN-G’s Spencer Wommack fumbled at the 10-yard line with under a minute to play.