By Daucy Crizer
Special to The News

NEDERLAND – Nederland scored on its first three possessions to start the game and never looked back en route to a 56-6 homecoming win over visiting Ozen in District 22-5A action Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.

After dropping a hard-fought 21-17 decision last week when Central scored with 0:05 remaining in the game, the Bulldogs come out hungry for a win and did not let the same mistakes that plagued them last week hinder the outcome of this game.

“Homecoming, and all the pageantry that comes with that, we were definitely mentally ready, not that we weren’t last week, but we concentrated this week on being a smarter football team,” said Nederland head coach Monte Barrow. “I think on both sides of the ball, we played smart football.

“Our defense, I think they’ve given up just 21 points in a game twice this year, golly they show up every week. They fly to the ball. I’m super proud of the guys that played in the second half that may not get a lot of playing time that kept the same score up there. We won the second half 7-0 and I was proud of them for doing that.”

Senior running back Devon Simmons turned in another stellar performance, rushing nine times for 122 yards and a pair of touchdowns. That was all in the first half as most of the starters stood and watched from the sideline in the second half.

“He seemed to have an extra gear tonight,” said Barrow of his star running back. “A couple of times just taking off and running away from people. We’re not surprised by it because we get to see it every day and we’re blessed to see it every day. We’re glad he’s on our side.”

Quarterback Blaysin Fernandez completed 4-of-9 passes for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Kevon Latulas caught both touchdown passes, covering 32 and 28 yards respectively, to finish the game with 60 yards receiving.

Nederland (5-2, 4-2) amassed 374 total yards of offense, rushing for 266 yards on 33 carries. The defense limited the Panthers to 163 yards on 37 carries and just 34 yards passing, including intercepting two passes.

“They (Ozen) had a bye week last week, so we anticipated seeing some different things from them that we hadn’t seen on film and they did,” said Barrow. “They came out in a four-man front. Our offensive line did a great job adjusting to that. We tried to use some formations to give us some advantages and the offensive line just did a great job all night.”

Already leading 49-6, backup quarterback Bryce McMorris led the Bulldogs on the only scoring drive of the second half. After Ozen turned the ball over on downs, the Bulldogs started their second drive of the third quarter at the Panthers 47.

Nicholas Kingston rushed for nine yards on the drive’s first play and Sean Nguyen followed with a 6-yard run. McMorris rushed for 29 yards to set up first-and-goal at the 1. Two plays later, McMorris called his own number for a 1-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 56-6 with 4:15 left in the third quarter.

“We were able to give some guys a chance to play tonight, especially those seniors who may not get a whole lot of time on the field,” said Barrow. “I was very proud of the way they played, and not just showed up on the field, but game in and played the game on both sides of the ball.”

The Bulldogs jumped to a quick 21-0 lead, scoring on their first three possessions of the first quarter. Taking advantage of good field position at the Ozen 44, Nederland needed only five plays to produce the first score of the game. Fernandez hit Latulus for a 32-yard scoring strike to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead at 8:44.

Nederland’s defense forced a three-and-out in the Panthers next possession and following an 8-yard punt, the Bulldogs took over at the Ozen 30. Simmons scored on a 21-yard run three plays later to push the lead to 14-0.

The Bulldogs again took advantage of quality field position on their third drive. The Panthers were called for a roughing the passer penalty on first down that put the ball at the Ozen 19. A 15-yard run by Latulus set up first-and-goal at the 4. Fernandez called his own number to make the score 21-0 with 3:54 left in the quarter.

Ozen (1-4, 1-4) finally responded on its next possession. Dominique Morris had a 17-yard run, which was the Panthers initial first down of the game. Ja’Marion Eaglin scored four plays later on a 49-yard run. The extra point was wide left to make the score 21-6 at the end of the first quarter.

The Bulldogs kept up the scoring in the second quarter. A 44-yard completion from Fernandez to Kingston set up Nederland with first-and-goal at the 6. Kingston scored two plays later on a 1-yard run to extend the lead to 28-6 with 10:02 left in the second quarter.

Simmons scored his second TD of the half on a 43-yard run with 3:00 remaining. Fernandez and Latulus connected for a second scoring strike, this one covering 28 yards with 0:42 left. Landon Hiltz closed out the scoring with a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown with 0:23 remaining to make the halftime score 49-6.

Eaglin led all rushers with 139 yards on 24 carries and accounted for the only score for the Panthers. Morris completed 4-of-17 passes for 34 yards. Norman Petry hauled in two passes for 25 yards and Jalen Wells had the other two catches for 9 yards.