By Chris Moore

Special to The News

BEAUMONT — With one week remaining until the kickoff of the high school football season, the Nederland Bulldogs hosted the Crosby Cougars for a scrimmage at Lamar University’s Provost Umphrey Stadium on Thursday.

The Cougars scored on a 30-yard pass at the end of the scrimmage to win 28-24.

Bulldog head coach Monte Barrow said he wanted to make sure his team played against speed like they will face Week 1 of the season when Nederland hosts West Orange-Stark.

The Cougars amassed 138 yards on the ground and 217 yards in the air.

“The speed we saw tonight is not unlike the speed we’ll see next week, by any means,” Barrow said. “And the physicalness of Crosby’s defense — they take pride in that, and obviously West Orange’s defense is a staple of that program.

Nederland struck first with a 7-yard fade route to a diving Carsen Arline with 6:48 remaining in the first quarter.

“I thought we came out with much more passion and aggression from the time we stepped off the bus, which is something we focused on this week after last week’s scrimmage,” he said. “We knew Crosby is an outstanding program. They have a bunch of great athletes and a great football team.”

Barrow’s defense stepped up on the next drive, pressing Crosby’s quarterback to throw what would have easily been a pick-six had the play not been blown dead because of the scrimmage.

Adam Roccaforte, who was on the junior varsity team last year, gave the Bulldogs a spark on offense with runs of 30 and 50 yards, reaching the end zone on the latter.

“We’ve been excited about what Adam has been able to do for us,” Barrow said. “We’ve got a great running back in Devon Simmons. To have Adam back there really helps. He really came into his own last year. In his mindset of, ‘Hey, I want to do something on Friday nights — he’s worked for that. He had a good showing tonight that will hopefully give him confidence down the road.

Kevon Latulas also had a big game for the Bulldogs, pulling in four catches for 89 yards, with 50 of them coming late in the on a pass from Blaysin Fernandez, who led Nederland in passing.

“Kevon was really a return guy for us last year,” Barrow said. “In the spring, he set his mind to being a receiver. He gave us an option we may not have had the past few years.”

While the Bulldogs were able to answer Crosby’s speed, Barrow hopes his team isn’t caught off guard by WOS.

“Hopefully it’s not a shock to some of our younger guys,” he said. “We’ll be ready to strap up Friday night.”

Nederland will kickoff its season against West Orange-Stark next Friday. The game is slated to start at 7 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium.