Late Jaguars touchdown sinks Bulldogs

Published 2:05 am Saturday, October 14, 2017

By Daucy Crizer
Special to The News

BEAUMONT – Nederland and Beaumont Central both scored in the final two minutes of the game, but it was the Jaguars touchdown with 0:05 remaining that trumped the Bulldogs’ field goal at 1:27.
That gave Central a dramatic come-from-behind 21-17 win Friday night in District 22-5A action at the Thomas Center.

With the game tied at 14-14, Nederland drove the ball down to the Central 7-yard line before the drive stalled. Payton Barrow converted a 27-yard field goal to give the Bulldogs a 17-14 lead with 1:27 remaining.

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Central’s Theo Foster returned the ensuing pooch kick to the Jaguars 42. After two incomplete passes, Central was penalized for delay of game and a personal foul for spiking the ball. That left the Jaguars with a third-and-30 at their own 22. Dessane Davis hit Adrian Humphrey for 19 yards. Then Davis completed a pass down the sideline for 33 yards to Tyrone Brown keep the drive alive at the Nederland 27. Davis connected with Brown again for 20 yards to give the Jaguars first-and-goal at the 3.

Davis spiked the ball to stop the clock at 0:09. On second-and-goal, Davis dropped back to pass, saw an open lane up the middle and scrambled for a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Jaguars an improbable 21-17 win.

“You have to play your best for four quarters in a district game if you expect to win,” said Nederland head coach Monte Barrow. “We didn’t start the game like we wanted to, and they (Central) may have had something to do with it. I told the kids at halftime that I was sorry they had to experience some of my growing pains as a head coach because I didn’t have them ready to play to start the game.

“For as bad as we felt like we played in the first half, to come back and take a lead late in the game, that says something to the character of our kids.”

Nederland dominated the stats, totaling 366 yards of offense compared to 235 by Central. The Bulldogs rushed for 259 yards and held the Jaguars to 83 yards rushing. Ultimately, Nederland was hurt by two turnovers and some untimely penalties.

Simmons led all rushers with 220 yards on 34 carries. He also caught two passes for 28 yards. Fernandez completed 12-of-25 passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Latulus hauled in three passes for 30 yards.

Trailing 17-14, a pair of costly turnovers thwarted two promising third quarter drives for Nederland. The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff, drove 89 yards, and were poised to tie the game. Fernandez called his own number on first-and-goal from the 4 and fumbled the ball when he was tackled at the 1. The ball was recovered by the Jaguars.

On the Bulldogs next possession, Fernandez hit Blayne Burnett for eight yards and Devon Simmons rushed for 13 yards to the Central 35. Fernandez was intercepted by Dyshawn Batiste two plays later.
Nederland finally broke through early in the fourth quarter. Three straight runs of 10, 6 and 6 by Simmons put the ball at the Jaguars 38. Following a false start penalty, Fernandez hit Kevon Latulas for a 30-yard scoring strike that tied the game at 14-14 with 8:43 left in the game.

“I told the kids after the game that they worked too hard to play a quarter and a half of football and expect to win,” said Barrow. “If we play our best and the other team is just better that night, then we’ll tip our hats. At the same time, they (Central) did a great job of not giving up either. They were down late and came back to make some big plays.

“We just have to get our focus back and get back to playing smarter football. You can’t do it in a game if you aren’t doing it in practice. I’ll make sure we’re doing those things in practice to get ready for next week.”

Nederland answered Central’s first score right back on its opening drive of the game, engineering a 10-play, 75-yard drive.

Simmons carried the ball on successive plays for 11 and 3 yards to give Nederland first-and-goal at the 5. Fernandez hit Nicholas Kingston on a 5-yard scoring strike to tie the game at 7-0 with 7:25 remaining in the first quarter.

The game remained tied until late in the second quarter until the Jaguars mounted their second scoring drive of the night. The Bulldogs were their own worst enemy on the drive, being flagged for three penalties totally 25 yards.

Foster ran for 12 and 11 yards on consecutive carries to put the ball in Nederland territory at the 49. A personal foul penalty on the Bulldogs put the ball at the 25. Another penalty after a Foster 2-yard run gave the Jaguars first-and-goal at the 5. On third-and-goal from the 13, Davis hit Adrian Humphrey on a slant route to give Central a 14-7 halftime lead.

Nederland had opportunities to score some points in the second quarter. Barrow hit the right upright on a 36-yard field goal attempt. After Central scored to reclaim the lead, the Bulldogs drove all the way down to the Jaguars 22. Fernandez connected with Simmons on a 16-yard completion and Simmons rushed for 16 yards on fourth-and-six to give Nederland a first down at the 25. Three plays later, Jace Mattingly’s 39-yard field goal as time expired was wide left.