NEDERLAND — Larry Neumann recalls a time when Nederland didn’t start the season with non-district slates.

Now in his 24^th year as the Bulldogs’ head coach, he’s also quick to remind all how well his teams have played come district time.

“I believe playing West Orange [-Stark] in the past has made us a better football team,” Neumann said. “It puts us in an environment of physicality and caliber of football that lends itself to you getting better.”

Nederland (0-2) nearly defeated Dayton last week, showing what Neumann considered all-around improvement from a 42-0 loss at West Orange-Stark the Friday before in a 24-23 home heartbreaker. Neumann credited the Bulldogs with handling the adversity from their first shutout defeat in nine seasons.

“Like I said after the loss, two things can happen after a loss like that: You can get discouraged or you can get determined,” Neumann said. “Our players have done a great job of handling a situation like that and have this year, too. The history is that we’ve gotten better behind playing tough opponents like that. Like I said before, we don’t concede victory because we have a tough opponent. We go into every game to win them.”

Luckily for the Bulldogs, it’s already homecoming. It’s also the start of District 22-5A play.

Livingston (1-1), a recent 4A team which became the ninth district member after updating its enrollment numbers with the UIL last winter, has gone 5-26 since last making the playoffs since 2012. The Lions, though, are coming off a 51-22 win over Conroe Caney Creek.

Homecoming does not lend any distractions to the Bulldogs in Neumann’s eyes. He wants them to embrace the occasion.

“We talked about our preparation and all those kinds of preparations before the season ever started,” he said. “We want our kids to be involved. We had a homecoming parade. We’ll ride. There’ll be a float for the players in the parade. They’ll ride and enjoy that experience. Mainly, they need to know they’re part of the homecoming to play football. So, try not to get too far outside themselves and enjoy the festivities, but play well that night. The history is, we’ve played pretty good on homecoming. It’s not been a distraction.”

Neumann said giving the Bulldogs a tough early-season stretch hasn’t been so much by choice as what he’s had to do in recent years. In his mind, it’s usually the teams who’ve been most successful who look for games.

“So you end up staring at a West Orange, Dayton, College Station, the teams that are looking for games like you are,” he said.

The Bulldog defense has notably improved since the second half of the Dayton game, when Nederland trailed 21-7.

“I think we quit helping them with dumb plays and tackled better probably,” defensive coordinator Delbert Spell said. “We played more zone and tried to help our secondary a little bit.”

In the past week, Neumann’s main concern has been for his team to cut out self-inflicted penalties.

His main concern since last Friday has been getting his team to cut out self-inflicted penalties. The players’ work ethic has not been a concern.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with how hard the players worked,” Neumann said. “Nobody’s happy around here. From me through the manager and trainer, nobody’s happy with the circumstances of the last two games. Work ethic has been good. Attitude has been excellent. Those things are in place for us to improve weekly.”

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews