BEAUMONT — The Nederland Bulldogs had their first action against players wearing a different color on Saturday morning at Kelly High School. Nederland, Silsbee and the Kelly Bulldogs rotated in their defenses and offenses for sets of 12 plays for about two hours, starting around 10 a.m.

There was no scoreboard and coaches were on the field as most of the early scrimmages go, but enough was accomplished on Saturday for Nederland head coach Larry Neumann to be happy. 

"You know, once we sit down and look at the tape, we will find things to be more critical of but for the most part, I felt like this was a great way to start. Neumann said. "Just from what I saw, I am very optimistic but that is just from my perspective and again that is just a first impression. I felt like, at the very least, we are headed in the right direction."

Nederland's offense scored two touchdowns, with one coming against each opponent. The second score was the highlight of the day as junior quarterback Kirby Bellow and Ryan Brady hooked up for a 54-yard scoring play. Bellow hit Brady in stride on a long, looping pass. Brady hauled it in and took about four steps before finding the end zone. 

That score came on Nederland's second offensive series and it was last series of the day for first teamers. 

Bellow was 3-of-6 and had 70 yards passing.

"That's pretty much what we expected," Neumann said. "Kirby is about where we figured him to be at this point. He threw the ball pretty well. He look especiallysharp at times. I thought for the most part the offense did alright."

If there was any surprise on the day, Neumann said it was the play of Justin Krause who is expected to be the starting running back for the Bulldogs. 

Neumann said he knew Krause was going to be an asset for the offense but did not expect him to come out of the gates running as hard as he did in the first scrimmage. 

On his very first carry, Krause turned what should have been a loss of four into a gain of eight. He ran the ball five times in all, piling up more than 50 yards. However, on his final carry, Krause took an awkward hit that left him on the ground in anguish for several minutes. 

Neumann said first reports seem to be good.

"I was told it looks like he just hyper extended his knee but we are certainly going to be reevaluating it in the next couple of days," Neumann said. "I think he is going to be fine though." 

As far as the defense, one assistant coach from West Orange-Stark said, while watching from the sideline and talking on the phone, that "it was typical Nederland defense — thick inside, fast outside and everybody is flying to the ball." 

Nederland did not allow a score and only allowed three first downs, including one to Kelly and two to Silsbee. 

"There were things I saw that I liked and some other situations that I know we need to work on," Neumann said. "We looked pretty good defensively but our secondary has still got some work to do."