By Daucy Crizer

Special to The News

NEDERLAND — Senior quarterback Blaysin Fernandez completed his first seven passes and Nederland scored on its first five possessions en route to a convincing 55-21 win over Baytown Lee in District 12-5A Division II action Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.

“It may be a little cliché, but tonight I think we played like we practiced,” said Nederland head coach Monte Barrow. “I told the kids that we had the best week of preparation we’ve had from a mental focus part to the physical part. We like to preach that it pays off in a game and they did that, so I hope they take it to heart and keep practicing hard and see the same results on Friday night.”

Fernandez completed 8 of 9 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Scott rushed for 103 yards on just six carries and scored two TDs. Scott also caught two passes for 35 yards. Josh Mazyck added 96 yards rushing on four carries and a touchdown. He had one catch for 47 yards.

“He wasn’t trying to do too much and really kept it simple,” said Barrow of Fernandez. “Last week, he had a great night running the football. Tonight he didn’t have to run it. I was proud of his effort and play tonight.”

Leading 41-14, the Bulldogs started the second half much like the finished the first half. Lee turned the ball over on downs on the first drive of the third quarter. Taking over at their own 42, Fernandez completed a screen pass to Mazyck for 47 yards down to the Lee 11. Armani Douglas scored on the next play for an 11-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 48-14.

On Lee’s ensuing possession, Kerrington Broussard intercepted Lee quarterback Elijah Partida and returned it to the Ganders 38. Following a 6-yard run by Carsen Arline, Mazyck rushed for 27 yards to the Lee 5. Douglas scored three plays later on a 1-yard plunge to make the score 55-14 with 2:46 left in the third quarter.

Lee put together a scoring drive to start the scoring in the fourth quarter. Partida completed an 18-yard pass to Montrel Motton to the Nederland 9. Partida scored two plays later on a 4-yard keeper to make the score 55-21 with 11:26 remaining in the game.

“Our offensive line is continuing to grow,” said Barrow after the Bulldogs rushed for 250 yards. “We’ve told our team that if you want to continue to play on into the playoffs, and I hope we are fortunate enough to get there, you have to continue to grow as a team. That involves each unit of the team. Our offensive line is definitely doing that. Most offensive lines gel as time goes on and this is no different.”

Nederland (7-0, 4-0 in 12-5A-II) took the opening kickoff and went 73 yards in 11 plays for the game’s first score. An 11-yard pass from Fernandez to Scott got the drive started. A 15-yard completion from Fernandez to Arline put the ball at the Lee 45.

Fernandez and Scott connected again for 24 yards to the Ganders 19. Scott capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. The extra point hit the upright to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead.

Lee (2-5, 0-4) didn’t waste any time in answering back. Jabier Quinones raced virtually untouched for a 75-yard scoring run on the Ganders’ first play from scrimmage to give them a brief lead at 7-6 with 6:33 left in the first quarter.

Not to be out done, Scott responded for the Bulldogs with a 67-yard touchdown run on the very next play from scrimmage as Nederland reclaimed the lead at 13-7 with 6:15 left in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs forced Lee to punt on its next possession. On the very next play from scrimmage, Fernandez hit Adam Roccaforte on a 44-yard scoring strike to push the Bulldogs lead to 20-7. That made it three touchdowns on three straight offensive plays from scrimmage for Nederland.

Nederland forced another punt from the Ganders, and this time they were able to block the punt. Taking over at the Lee 20, and following a holding penalty, Fernandez hit Rene Cunningham for 11 yards. Fernandez followed with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Blayne Burnett to extend the lead to 27-7 with :59 left in the opening quarter.

Following another Lee punt, the Bulldogs opened the scoring in the second quarter. Josh Mazyck rushed for 16 yards and a personal foul face mask penalty against the Ganders added another 15 yards. Mazyck scored on the next play from 41-yards out as Nederland pushed the lead to 34-7 with 11:00 left in the second quarter.

Lee put together its first sustained drive of the game. Partida and Montrel Motton connected four times on the drive for completions of 20, 16, 19 and 3 yards. The 20-yard completion came on third-and-15 to keep the drive going. The 3-yard completion went for a touchdown in the back right corner of the end zone to make the score 34-14 with 6:03 left in the quarter.

The Bulldogs closed out the first half scoring on their ensuing drive, which was set up with good field position at the Lee 26 following a 45-yard punt return. Scott ran for 25 yards on the drive’s first play and Fernandez scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper. That made the score 41-14 with 2:43 remaining and was also the halftime score.

Partida finished the game completing 13-of-28 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 54 yards on 15 carries and a TD. Quinones led all rushers with 126 yards on 14 carries. JaKenan Davis added 40 yards on nine totes. Motton caught nine passes for 116 yards.

Nederland 55, Baytown Lee 21
Lee 7 7 0 7 — 21
Nederland 27 14 14 0 — 55
First quarter
Nederland – Kade Scott 8 run (kick failed), 6;51
Lee – Jabier Quinones 75 run (Andy Flores kick), 6:33
Nederland – Scott 67 run (Payne Barrow kick), 6:15
Nederland – Adam Roccaforte 44 pass from Blaysin Fernandez (Barrow kick), 3:49
Nederland – Blayne Burnett 19 pass from Fernandez (Barrow kick), 0:59
Second quarter
Nederland – Josh Mazyck 41 run (Barrow kick), 11:00
Lee – Montrel Motton 3 pass from Elijah Partida (Flores kick), 6:03
Nederland – Fernandez 1 run (Barrow kick), 2:43
Third quarter
Nederland – Armani Douglas 11 run (Barrow kick), 10:23
Nederland – Douglas 1 run (Barrow kick), 2:56
Fourth quarter
Lee – Elijah Partida 4 run (Flores kick), 11:26

Ned Lee
First downs 16 15
Rushes-yards 27-250 39-207
Passing yards 179 149
Total yards  429 356
Comp-Att-Int 8-9-0 14-29-3
Fumbles-lost 0-0 5-0
Penalties-yards 3-35 5-65
Punts-Avg. 2-30.0 3-37.0

Individual statistics
RUSHING — Nederland: Kade Scott 6-103, Josh Mazyck 4-96, Armani Douglas 4-16; Lee: Jabier Quinones 14-126, JaKenan Davis 9-40, Elijah Partida 15-54.
PASSING — Nederland: Blaysin Fernandez 8-9-0—179; Lee: Elijah Partida 13-28-3—151, JaKenan Davis 1-1-1—(-2).
RECEIVING — Nederland: Kade Scott 2-35, Carsen Arline 2-23, Josh Mazyck 1-47, Adam Roccaforte 1-44, Blayne Burnett 1-19; Lee: Montrel Motton 9-116, Adrian Boston 2-20, Jacory Green 2-15.