By Daucy Crizer
Special to The News

LUMBERTON – Led by senior running back Devon Simmons, Nederland scored on its first four offensive possessions and cruised to a 41-31 win over Lumberton in District 22-5A action Friday night at Raiders Stadium.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead with a balanced offensive attack and that trend continued throughout the game. Nederland rushed for 360 yards on 44 carries and passed for another 137 yards for a total offensive output of 497 yards.

“As far as we’re concerned, we still control our own destiny, and that’s all we’ve asked for since day one,” said Nederland coach Monte Barrow on the team’s playoff hopes heading into next week’s final regular season game. “We know we’re in if we win next week.

“Coming off the bye week and having two weeks of preparation for tonight’s game, it was nice to get back on the field again. I know the guys were itching to get out here. We came out looking like a team that was refreshed and ready to play some football.”

Simmons rushed for a game-high 247 yards on 19 carries. He had two touchdowns on runs of 43 and 49 yards. He also caught two passes for 14 yards. Blaysin Fernandez completed 9 of 17 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Kevon Latulas was his top target, catching four passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns.

“He (Simmons) knows he can’t do it without the guys up front, and we’ve grown up so much on the offensive line, but there’s no doubt he make many yards after contact,” said Barrow of Simmons. “He

Trailing 31-7 to start the third quarter, Lumberton struck first in the second half. After Nederland forced a quick punt on the Raiders opening possession, the Bulldogs fumbled the ball on the punt return, giving the ball right back to the Raiders.

Lumberton (4-5, 3-5) did not waste the good field position, driving all the way to the Nederland 23 before having to settle for a 40-yard Kaleb Karr field goal to make the score 31-10.

On the Bulldogs ensuing possession, Cade Flowers intercepted Fernandez to give the ball to the Raiders at mid-field. A 26-yard run by Remington Boykin put the ball at the Nederland 13. Josh Ward scored one play later on a 13-yard TD run to pull the Raiders to within 31-17 with 4:42 left in the third quarter.

Nederland (6-2, 5-2) finally answered back on its next possession. Simmons carried three times on the drive, the last of which was a 49-yard touchdown run to push the Bulldogs lead to 38-17 with 2:45 remaining in the third.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 26-yard field goal by Payne Barrow with 7:11 left in the game to extend their lead to 41-17. That scoring drive was set up by a Landon Hiltz interception.

Lumberton mounted a late rally, but still came up short. Jace Bridges and Karr connected for a pair of late touchdowns for the Raiders. The first scoring strike was a 30-yard pass play with 4:42 left in the fourth to make the score 41-24.

The Raiders successfully executed on on-side kick and took over possession at the 50. Four plays later, Bridges hit Karr on a 35-yard scoring strike with 2:56 remaining to make the final score 41-31.

“I thought our guys did a great job of focusing on the task at hand tonight and not getting ahead of ourselves, which is not an easy thing to do,” said Barrow in regards to next week’s Mid-County Madness matchup. “After the game I usually tell the guys to enjoy this one and we’ll get started on next week’s opponent on Monday. But I think this victory is behind us now and all our thoughts are on next week.”

Nederland took the opening kickoff and marched straight down the field for the game’s first score. The Bulldogs only needed four plays. Simmons had carries of 3 and 5 yards to start the drive. After a 1-yard gain by Fernandez, Simmons raced 43 yards to give Nederland a quick 7-0 lead.

Lumberton responded on its first possession. Bridges completed all five of his pass attempts on the drive. He connected with Josh Ward on a 30-yard completion on third-and-five to keep the drive going. Ward capped the drive with a 3-yard run to tie the score at 7-7.

The Bulldogs scored on the ensuing possession, once again only needing four plays to go 63 yards this time. Fernandez hit Latulas for a 13-yard gain to the Raiders 41. After a Simmons 20-yard run, Fernandez connected with Latulas on a 21-yard scoring strike to put Nederland up 14-7.

After forcing the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs, the Bulldogs put together another scoring drive. Fernandez hit Nicholas Kingston for 9 yards on the drive’s first play, but Nederland’s offense bogged down. Jace Mattingly connected on a 48-yard field goal to push the lead to 17-7.

It was more of the same for the Bulldogs in the second quarter. Fernandez and Latulas connected twice on a quick four-play drive. The first pass play went for 13 yards. After a Simmons 12-yard run, Fernandez and Simmons connected on a 49-yard scoring strike to extend the lead to 24-7 with 10:35 left in the quarter.

After forcing and three-and-out, the Nederland offense put together one last scoring drive before halftime. Simmons started the drive with a 16 yard run and Sean Nguyen followed with a 25 yard run to put the ball at the Raiders 45. Another Simmons run of 23 yards put the ball on the 11. Fernandez and Latulus hooked up again, this time on a 9-yard pass play to make the score 31-7 at halftime.

Ward led the Raiders in rushing with 60 yards on 17 carries. He also caught three passes for 44 yards. Bridges completed 16-29 passes for 162 yards. Karr caught 10 passes for 75 yards.