NEDERLAND — Larry Neumann has learned some things about his football team even after one scrimmage.

He will learn even more after tonight’s second test. The Bulldogs head to Crosby for a 7:15 p.m. scrimmage against the Cougars.

“Since we put pads on, we have moved in the right direction on both sides of the ball,” Neumann said. “The things that pleased me the most after one scrimmage is defensively our conditioning seems to be pretty good. We run to the ball, this early, as good as we ever had. We are very active. The tackling is poor and you always think you are going to do a little bit better over time with practice. We had too many missed tackles.”

Neumann said defensive back Alex Celaya could be back with the team the week after the Bulldogs face West Orange-Stark on Aug. 26 to open the regular season. Celaya is out with an arm injury.

“Getting him back will help,” Neumann said. “He has been practicing but no contact.”

Neumann knows he will learn more about he and defensive coordinator Delbert Spell’s unit once it is test against the Cougars.

“C.E. King had some speed but I know Crosby has more,” Neumann added. “Crosby is going to be more like West Orange I would imagine. It will be great measuring stick.”

Nederland has yet to name a starting quarterback. Marshall Lange and Blaysin Fernandez both had ups and downs in Neumann’s mind against C.E. King and neither outplayed the other enough to get the starting nod.

“Both quarterbacks progressed after our intra-squad scrimmage and against C.E. King,” Neumann said. “I am hoping with the results from the scrimmage against Crosby we can name a guy for West Orange-Stark. It is amazing that they are pretty close. They both had good throws and both made bad decisions at times. We didn’t do enough to say we have a quarterback to take us to the championship. They are both moving in the right direction and both are doing enough to give you optimism that they are going to continue to get better as time goes on. There is very little separation between the two.”

Neumann said he is looking for both guys to eliminate negative plays.

“That is how you start to get better,” Neumann said. “We had too many negative plays against C.E. King that were self inflicted. We just need more reps.”

The Bulldogs and Cougars will play a controlled scrimmage and not a full four quarters. Each team will run 10 plays and then flip to the other side of the ball. There will also be work on the special teams side of the ball.

Crosby and Nederland at the end is scheduled to play two, 12-minute quarters with a running clock.

“We can get a little sideline management,” Neumann said. “Things you get from a game.”
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Gabriel Pruett: 721-2436. Twitter: @PaNewsGabe