NEDERLAND — NRG Stadium isn’t the final destination Nederland has planned for its football season, but the Houston Texans’ home venue isn’t a bad place to play, either.

The Bulldogs have been there before, short of a trip to a state championship game.

“You watch it on TV on a Sunday, and then all of a sudden you’re there on a Friday,” first-year Nederland coach Monte Barrow said. “It’s something they’ll carry with them the rest of their lives. The guys that played before still talk about their games there, so it’s something special for them. But it’s not, ‘Hey, let’s go play at NRG. We’re trying to win a football game.’”

Friday’s 5A Division I area round game against Manvel, however, will bring crowds just perfect for the NRG Stadium setting. So will the game that follows — Port Neches-Groves vs. Texas City.

“The atmosphere is great,” senior linebacker Brady Spell said. “We’ll probably bring a few fans. It won’t quite be like a Sunday, but it’ll feel pretty special in there.”

If the Bulldogs (8-2) beat Manvel (10-0), the road to AT&T Stadium in Arlington will go through Nederland. The winner will take on Ennis (8-3) or Cedar Park (10-1).

The Mavericks, who began their football program in 2006, have made a regional final every year since 2013 but have not made the state semifinals since a 2011 loss in the 4A Division II final to Aledo. This year, the Mavericks are ranked third in 5A by MaxPreps and carry a pretty balanced offense.

“Anytime you’re going against a great team like that even this deep in the playoffs, it’s going to take 11 guys there on the field each and every time, whether it’s offense, defense or special teams.,” Barrow said. “There’s a reason they play this game, and we’re looking forward to 4 o’clock on Friday.”

If the past two weeks of football have been the best Nederland has played this season, linebacker Brady Spell would agree.

“Coming off the bye week and looking at Port Neches [Groves] and what we had after that, we knew we had to put something together,” Spell said.

Nederland has won five straight since a stunning loss at Beaumont Central. The streak began with a blowout of Ozen and, after the Oct. 27 off date, continued with wins over Lumberton, PNG and Porter.

Manvel is a different beast from the Porter team Nederland beat 35-3 last week.

Four different running backs for the Mavericks have gone for 200-plus yards, led by senior Deneric Prince’s 518 yards and even touchdowns. His 7.7 yards per carry, though, are second to classmate Garrison Johnson’s 8.1. Prince and Johnson (443 rushing yards) each have seven touchdowns on the season.

Quarterback Kason Martin needs just 170 yards passing for 2,000 on the season.

“They have athletes,” Barrow said. “They try to get you in space and get you in 1-on-1 matchups. We have to do what we’ve done all year and invest defensively. That means all 11 guys running to the football. And then, on offense, take advantage of matchups that we see, not go three-and-out and get our defense in a bind.”

Spell said they’ll have to find a weakness in the Mavericks’ offense and make them beat the Bulldogs that way.

“They’ve got to beat you doing one thing, and they’re not going to beat you doing the same thing they’ve been beating everybody else with,” he said.

Nederland won’t mind if senior Devon Simmons turns in his third 200-plus-yard game in four outings. He had 247 yards against Lumberton and 214 against Porter.

“All I have to do is my part. I know my o-line will block for me,” Simmons said.

He’ll have quite the setting to showcase his talents, a setting Barrow is used to after 25 seasons on the Bulldogs’ coaching staff.

“Some years ago, we had a doubleheader, a two-year thing with Port Neches, Brenham and La Marque,” he said. “The crowds were special. Now with it being the playoffs, the overflow for both games with both communities should be pretty electric in there.”

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I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews