By Daucy Crizer
The News correspondent

BAYTOWN — After posting a lop-sided win to open district play last week, Nederland picked up right where it left off, even if the cast of characters had changed, in cruising to a 48-7 win over Baytown Lee Friday night at Stallworth Stadium.

“We started a little slow, and you might have expected that, and I’m talking more about the offense. I thought the defense played pretty solid all night,” Nederland head coach Larry Neumann said. “With Blaysin (Fernandez) getting his first start and all of the things that are swirling around that position this year, I was pleased that the offense was able to get going. It didn’t click right off the bat, but we got it rolling.

“We’re moving in the right direction and that’s what I told the team after the game. Every week we’re getting a little better. If we keep getting better, somebody will have to play pretty good to beat us, I hope.”

Sophomore quarterback Fernandez made his first varsity start, but showed the poise and ability for the position of a seasoned veteran. He completed 6-of-16 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball nine times for game-high 82 yards and another score.

“I thought it was heady,” said Neumann of Fernandez’ performance. “He likes to run the football, and I like quarterbacks that like to run the football. He’s not afraid to stick his nose in there and run the ball a little bit. He threw a couple of really good passes tonight. There’s some potential there. I thought his performance was pretty good since he only had two days of practice.”

Nederland (2-2, 2-0) also featured some new faces in the backfield as leading rusher Devon Simmons was on the sideline in street clothes. Ryan LeLeux and Sean Nguyen were up to the task, in addition to Fernandez. The Bulldogs racked up 267 yards rushing and 383 yards of total offense.

The Bulldogs defense was just as impressive. The only thing preventing the defense from posting a shutout was a 25-yard TD run on a busted play early in the fourth quarter. Nederland limited the Ganders to 176 yards of total offense, 125 rushing and 51 passing.

“Just on our performance, technique wise, our defensive front and what we were doing was probably about as good as we’ve defended that style of attack,” Neumann added. “We’ll be facing a team (Vidor) next week that runs it a lot better, but we have the beginnings of what we need to know about those guys up front to have some success.

“I really liked our pad level tonight and we weren’t hunting the football. We were in the right position to make plays. They beat us a couple of times on play action pass, but we got that shored up. I thought our defense played really well tonight.”

Already leading 27-0, Nederland received the second half kickoff. Two illegal procedure penalties backed up Lee on the kickoff, which was followed by a good return and another 15 yards for a face mask penalty. The Bulldogs started the opening drive of the third quarter on the Gander 28-yard line. On the drive’s first play, LeLeux took the handoff and raced 28 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 34-0.

Nederland scored on its next possession, this time on a 1-yard plunge by Nicholas Kingston. The Bulldogs were aided by a pass interference penalty that put the ball at the Lee 7. That made the score 41-0 with 7:25 left in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs closed out their scoring on a Kevin Latulas 32-yard TD run with 1:49 left in the quarter to make the score 48-0. That capped a quick four-play, 53-yard drive. Nederland scored touchdowns on all three of its third quarter possessions.

LeLeux finished the game with 70 yards on just four carries with two touchdowns. Nguyen added 30 yards on eight totes and Ryan Anderson chipped in with 29 yards on six carries. Fisher caught three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Lee (1-3, 0-2) put together its best drive on the night and finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter. Adam Bates started the drive with a 9-yard run and Stewart followed with a 39-yard scamper to put the ball at the Nederland 32. Three plays later, Stewart collided with one his running backs in the backfield and spun out to the left and raced 25 yards for the Ganders lone score to make the final score 48-7.

Nederland struck first on a 26-yard scoring strike from Fernandez to Fisher, giving the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 6:07 left in the first quarter. That capped a six-play, 68-yard scoring drive.

Fernandez also had a 32-yard run during the drive.

The score remained 7-0 until midway through the second quarter. Taking over at their own 49, the Bulldogs put together a quick five-play, 51-yard scoring drive. A Fernandez run put the ball at the 11 and LeLeux scored on the very next play to give Nederland a 14-0 lead.

The Ganders fumbled the snap on the ensuing drive’s first play from scrimmage, which was recovered by Daniel Hinton at the Lee 27. Fernandez connected with Fisher on a 24-yard completion to the 3.

Fernandez called his own number on a 3-yard quarterback draw to push Nederland’s lead to 20-0.
The Bulldogs closed out the first half scoring, again taking advantage of good field position at their own 47. After a 15-yard completion to Reid Garrett, Fernandez hit Perkins on a 34-yard scoring strike to give Nederland a 27-0 halftime lead.

Stewart, who entered the game at quarterback in the second quarter after starter Javier Estrada left with an apparent leg injury, made the most of his opportunity. He rushed for a team-high 60 yards on four carries. Bates added 23 yards on 12 carries.