NEDERLAND — NEDERLAND — The Nederland Bulldogs had no passing game to speak of in Friday night’s football matchup with the Goose Creek Memorial Patriots.

No balance? No problem!

Behind left tackle Andrew Lack, left guard Austin Dial, center Kanton Richard, right guard AJ Garza and right tackle Ben Jones, Nederland methodically powered its way to a 30-8 victory over the Patriots, using 244 yards of rushing to claim the win.

Junior Troy Benjamin carried the bulk of the load, darting for three scores and 128 yards on 20 attempts. Edwin Nelson followed with 76 yards on 11 carries. The Bulldogs collected 12 first downs in the first half and sucked nearly 17 minutes off the clock.

“Winning can do a lot for a team, especially after the way we played last week,” said Bulldog boss Larry Neumann. “I thought it was important for us to play well. I think we got something to build from. Edwin and Troy did a great job running the ball. You have to give a lot of credit to our offensive line. They knew what they were going to be asked of tonight and they did an outstanding job leading the way for all of our backs.”

With the win, Nederland’s record goes to 1-1. The Bulldogs will travel to Barbers Hill to face the Eagles in Mont Belvieu next week. 

Neumann did not want to be too critical of his team but said he was rather disappointed with a missed tackle that ultimately sprung an 88-yard touchdown run from GCM’s Damon Guillory.

Prior to that mishap, the Dogs were ahead 16-0 and had the Patriots at 2nd-and-12 from their own 12-yard line with 2:23 remaining in the half.

“I thought we were fixing to get the ball back and have a chance to really break the game open before the half,” explained Neumann. “We had him (Guillory) in the backfield and we missed a tackle. I’m proud of the way our guys played tonight but those are the kind of things we have to improve on. That kind of thing really could have changed the magnitude of the entire game.”

It nearly did because the Patriots tacked on a 2-point conversion to cut Nederland’s lead to 16-8. The Dogs responded with two incomplete passes, they were flagged twice for a loss of 15 yards, and had another passing play net only six yards.

With that one run, GCM had stolen momentum and had the benefit of receiving the ball first in the second half.

Neumann said he may have overreacted to the missed tackle but his reactions probably had a lot to do with the way his defense opened up the second half by sending the Patriots on their merry way after just three plays.

The defense also served up the offense with great field position as they took over at GCM’s 35. From there, Benjamin broke loose on the first snap for a 35-yard touchdown scamper to give the Bulldogs a 23-8 advantage.

Two of GCM’s next three possessions ended with punts.  The one in between came to a close after Holden Butler intercepted Patriots quarterback Chris Cowen. And on Memorial’s final possession, Guillory fumbled in his own endzone where Nederland’s Koby Couron pounced on it for an easy touchdown.

GCM had taken over at its 6-yard line. A five-yard sack dropped the Pats to the one and then on a 2nd-and-15, Guillory coughed up the football. That lifted the Bulldogs advantage to 30-8.

“I’m realy proud of the guys for the way they answered in the second half,” said Neumann. “I told them after the game that showed a lot of character and that is a situation that may confront us again later in this season. Overall, I thought we played a good game on both sides of the ball. We have plenty to improve on but we got a win tonight and that was important for this team.”

The Bulldogs first scoring drive came to a close after Benjamin punched in a 1-yard touchdown. That possession lasted 4 minutes. The Dogs used seven running plays to cover 52 yards. They passed once for one yard.

Nederland then worked off 8:04 on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off by another 1-yard run from Benjamin, lifting the Dogs lead to 13-0.

Following a 27-yard field goal from Cole Ogrydziak, Nederland held a 16-0 lead.

The Bulldogs defense held GCM to 221 total yards but 148 of that came on two plays: Guillory’s 88-yard dash and Angel Sanchez popped a 60-yard run late in the fourth quarter. That carry amounted to nothing, however, as GCM turned the ball over on downs after going for it on 4th-and-9 from Nederland’s 19.  The Patriots lost 11 yards on that play.

The Dogs offense took over and ran out the clock from there.