By Michael Sudhalter

Special to The News

CHANNELVIEW — The popular saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but Nederland head football coach Monte Barrow wasn’t satisfied with his Bulldogs simply in control with a 14-3 halftime lead on Friday.

Barrow altered the game plan considerably, and the result was a dominant 35-3 victory over Porter in the 5A Division I bi-district playoffs at Ray Maddry Stadium.

Of 35 offensive plays, the Bulldogs (8-2) ran the ball 32 times against the Spartans (7-4) in the second half.

Nederland senior running back Devon Simmons — the leading rusher in 22-5A — rushed for 163 of his game-high 214 yards. He scored both of his touchdowns (42 yards and 5 yards) in the third quarter and caught three passes for 22 yards in the first half.

The humble Simmons credited his offensive line for the second half effort, but acknowledged that the second half was the best two quarters of football in his career.

Now, the Bulldogs shift their focus to Manvel (10-0), which defeated Houston Madison, 49-6, on Thursday night.

Nederland will challenge Manvel — a state 5A quarterfinalist in 2016 — at 4 p.m. Friday at NRG Stadium in Houston in the 5A-I area playoffs.

“Facing Manvel will make us work harder throughout the week,” said Simmons, who was on the Bulldogs’ roster in 2015 when they lost to eventual 5A state champion George Ranch in the area round.

The Bulldogs, who have now won four consecutive games, will make their first trip to NRG since 2012 — the year they reached the state semifinals.

“I am excited that these guys will have the opportunity to play at NRG,” Barrow said. “A lot of our players attended that game as middle school students in 2012.”

Friday’s victory was the first postseason win for Barrow, a 1986 Nederland High graduate who served on Larry Neumann’s staff for the past 24 years before being promoted to head coach before the 2017 season.

“It’s to our advantage when we can put the ball in Devon Simmons’ hands,” Barrow said. “I am proud of our offensive line for doing an excellent job of blocking.”

Senior fullback Sean Nguyen added a 2-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs’ defense turned in a stellar performance. It was the first time since a 48-3 win over Dayton in September 2015 that the Bulldogs kept an opponent out of the end zone.

Junior Brycen Grusecki registered an interception in the second half for the Bulldogs.

“That is something special,” Barrow said. “Our defense takes a lot of pride in what we do, and they accepted the challenge of keeping the opponent out of the end zone.”

Nederland’s previous best defensive effort this season was a 56-6 win over Ozen.

Porter, which had won six of seven games entering the playoff opener, had only one other game this season where they hadn’t scored a touchdown.

Nederland stopped the Spartans inside the 10-yard line twice, holding them to a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter. Porter was forced to kick a field goal after Nederland’s Hunter Torres came up with a sack of Spartans quarterback Zane Russell.

The Bulldogs outgained the Spartans, 396 to 148, including 221 to 32 in the second half.

Nederland junior quarterback Blaysin Fernandez — the second leading passer in 22-5A — completed 8 of 13 passes for 87 yards. He rushed for a 2-yard touchdown in the first quarter and completed a 5-yard touchdown to Nicholas Kingston in the second quarter for a 14-3 halftime lead.

Fernandez completed passes of 30 and 18 yards Jace Mattingly and Kevon Latulas, respectively. Those passes went a long way in setting up the first half touchdowns.