By Daucy Crizer
Special to The News

DAYTON – Senior Devon Simmons rushed for over 200 yards and scored four touchdowns, leading Nederland to a season-opening 26-14 win over Dayton in non-district action Friday night at Bronco Stadium.

The win meant more than just a 1-0 start to the season for the Bulldogs, it also represented the first win for head coach Monte Barrow.

“I told these guys that I couldn’t be happier to be with a group of guys since January, before they knew who their head coach was going to be, when they found out who their coach was going to be. They’ve just been all in and never batted an eye. I couldn’t be more proud of those guys. It’s the first win for this senior class, and that’s the big thing.”

Simmons rushed for 202 yards on 23 carries. He rushed for three touchdowns and added a 47-yard TD reception. He also caught three passes for 51 yards.

Quarterback Blaysin Fernandez completed 8-of-15 passes for 87 yards and one TD. He also rushed 14 times for 85 yards. Nederland amassed 396 yards of total offense, 309
coming on the ground.

“First half, I thought was typical of what’s been going on the last week and a half or so, both teams had some jitters,” said Barrow. “I thought it was a hard fought football game. I thought our defense played unbelievably well.

“In the second half, we challenged our offensive and defensive lines to take over the game and I think they both did a pretty good job of doing that.”

Trailing 7-6 to start the third quarter, the Bulldogs forced Dayton into a three-and-out of the opening drive. On fourth-and-four, the snap from center sailed over the punter’s head for a 27-yard loss and set up Nederland with good field position at the Broncos 16.

The Bulldogs didn’t waste the good field position or any time in scoring the go-ahead touchdown. Simmons rushed three straight times, the last of which was a 5-yard TD run.

Nederland’s two-point conversion pass was incomplete, but the Bulldogs still grabbed a 12-7 lead with 9:19 left in the third quarter.

Nederland’s defense stood tall once again, forcing another three-and-out. The Bulldogs ensuing possession looked promising with three successive runs to the Dayton 33. However, Simmons fumbled the ball after another nice gain to give the ball back to the Broncos.

Dayton (0-1) followed with its best drive of the third quarter, which was aided by a 32-yard pass for receiver Keyth Williams to Jermond Lovely. Williams took the hand-off on what appeared to be an end around run, but Williams pulled up and passed the ball to a streaking Lovely. The drive bogged down and quarterback A.J. Nail was sacked for a 9-yard loss on fourth-and-seven from the Nederland 38.

Simmons and the Bulldogs were able to strike right back. Simmons broke free for a 43-yard gain to the Dayton 3-yard line. He scored on the very next play. Payne Barrow’s extra point put Nederland up 19-7 with 3:09 left in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs put together their longest scoring drive of the night to start the fourth quarter. Fernandez connected with Carsen Arline for a 2-yard completion to start the drive, which was Fernandez’s only passing attempt of the second half.

Nederland closed out the 13-play, 73-yard drive with 12 consecutive running plays. Simmons carried the last four times, covering 20 yards, and capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge to give the Bulldogs a 26-7 lead.

Dayton closed out the scoring with a late touchdown. Justin Santee ripped off a 43-yard run to the Nederland 16. He carried two more times, the last of which was a 9-yard TD run to make the final score 26-14.

“I don’t know how much of an adjustment it was, but our offensive line just said to run the ball behind us,” said Barrow of any halftime offensive adjustments. “They have a lot of confidence in the guys in the backfield. Devon [Simmons] got down on himself a little bit with a couple of fumbles, but I told him he could fumble 20 times and he wouldn’t get fired. I might get fired, but he wouldn’t. He’s our running back and we’re glad to have him.”

The Broncos struck first, scoring on their opening possession. Nail hit Lovely on a 47-yard scoring strike to give Dayton a quick 7-0 lead with 6:29 left in the first quarter.

After being stymied on its opening possession, Nederland answered on their second drive. Fernandez hit Simmons on a swing pass that went for 47 yards and a score.

The Bulldogs defense came up big in the second quarter, intercepting Nail three times. Nederland also stopped a promising Broncos drive that ended in a missed 40-yard field goal. The Bulldogs offense also had their problems in the quarter with two lost fumbles. The halftime score remained 7-6.

“We did a great job of just flying to the football,” said Barrow of his defense, which limited Dayton to just 267 yards of total offense. “They spread you out so well and they got speed in space, so we didn’t want to end up on one-on-one in too many places. We had defensive lineman making tackles on the sideline and that’s what you got to have against a team that tries to play sideline to sideline.”

Nail finished the game completing 16-of-29 passes for 159 yards and one touchdown. He also threw three interceptions. Santee led the ground attack, rushing for 115 yards on 23 carries. Lovely caught seven passes for 116 yards and Williams added six grabs for 44 yards.

“Now we’re getting ready for district play. It’s a different mentality, definitely,” said Barrow. “We have a week and a half until we start district on that Wednesday. We’ll try to fix us first because we’ve got plenty of things to work on, and then we’ll work on preparing for Livingston.”