By Daucy Crizer

Special to The News

VIDOR – Sophomore Kade Scott rushed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns, helping Nederland cruise to a 41-21 win over Vidor Friday night in District 12-5A-II action at Pirate Stadium.

Nederland improved to 8-0 on the season, including a 5-0 mark in district play. The Bulldogs rushed for 276 yards and passed for 165 to amass 441 yards of total offense. The defense held Vidor to 280 yards rushing and zero yards passing.

Scott carried the ball 26 times for 207 yards and had touchdown runs of 18 and 7 yards. He also caught two passes for 31 yards. Fernandez completed 11 of 20 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown.

Armani Douglas caught three passes for 42 yards and a TD. Blayne Burnett added three catches for 21 yards and Brycen Grusecki hauled in two passes for 38 yards.

“Like always, people are going to limp off the field after this game, on both sides,” said Nederland coach Monte Barrow. “That’s the way it’s always been. This is just a tough guy game. Both teams had some tough guys out there playing hard.

“I was super proud of our defense tonight. To go into halftime, and I don’t know what the stats were, but I know they had zero points, and that was huge. I told the kids that may be the best effort for a half that I’ve ever seen in this game.”

Leading 14-0, Nederland received the kickoff to start the third quarter and, thanks to a 44-yard return by Brycen Grusecki to the Vidor 46, the Bulldogs had great field position to start the drive. A 17-yard completion from Fernandez to Blayne Burnett put the ball at the Pirates 8. Following a holding penalty, Scott scored two plays later on an 18-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 21-0 with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

Vidor (3-5, 0-5) responded with its first scoring drive of the game, all coming on the ground. Jackson LaPray was the main ball carrier on the drive, carrying the ball five times for 51 yards. His last run resulted in a 6-yard touchdown to make the score 21-7 with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs added to their lead early in the fourth quarter. A Noah Lewis interception set up Nederland with good field position at the Vidor 33. Scott carried for 12 yards to the 15. He finished the scoring drive with consecutive runs of 8 and 7 yards, the last of which was for a touchdown. That pushed the lead to 28-7 with 11:02 left in the game.

Nederland extended the lead on its next possession. Following a failed fake punt attempt by the Pirates, Fernandez connected with Carsen Arline for a 33-yard scoring strike to make the score 35-7 with 7:42 remaining in the game.

The Pirates responded with a scoring drive of their own. Kelby Odom started the drive with a 29-yard run. He also added runs of 12 and 5. Zach Dahlenburg capped the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-14.

The Bulldogs answered right back. A 52-yard run by Scott put the ball at the Pirates 30. Armani Douglas carried the ball for 11 yards to the 7. Grusecki scored on a 6-yard jet sweep. The extra point hit the upright to make the score 41-14 with 3:22 remaining.

The Pirates closed out the scoring on a 26-yard touchdown run by LaPray with 1:21 left in the game.

“We have a veteran offensive line and it just seemed like we were one little thing away for putting together a good drive early in the game,” said Barrow. “At halftime we talked to them about how that’s how we were early in the season, we weren’t starting fast. We would wait until the second half and you can’t continue to do that and get to where we want to go.

“We came out in the second half and I’m really proud of the way they took control up front. They were opening up big lanes for Kade (Scott).”

LaPray led the Pirates in rushing with 81 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns. Duhlenburg added 75 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. Brad Nunez had nine carries for 45 yards and Odom added 55 yards on six carries.

It took the Bulldogs awhile to get their offense going, but they finally put together a scoring drive early in the second quarter. Scott finally found some running lanes to string together some first downs. Fernandez started the drive with a 7-yard run and Scott followed with an 8-yard run.

A few plays later, Scott got loose for a 12-yard run and followed with a 10-yard scamper to put the ball at the Pirates 22. Following a Scott 3-yard run, Fernandez hit Douglas on a screen pass that went for 19 yards and a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 9:23 left in the second quarter. That capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive.

After the Nederland defense forced a fourth straight three-and-out by the Vidor offense, Adam Roccaforte had a 23-yard punt return to give the Bulldogs good field position at the Pirates 45.

Nederland didn’t waste that good field position. Fernandez came up a yard short with a 4-yard gain on third-and-five, but a personal foul face mask penalty gave the Bulldogs a first down at the 21.

Fernandez completed a 17-yard pass to Scott to the 14 and a 4-yard run by Scott gave the Bulldogs first-and-goal at the 10. Douglas rushed for 8-yards to the 2. Fernandez called his own number for a 2-yard touchdown run. That gave Nederland a 14-0 lead with 4:25 remaining in the second quarter. Neither team could muster a late scoring drive, so the score remained 14-0 at halftime.

 

Nederland 41, Vidor 21
Nederland       0              14           7              7              —              41
Vidor               0              0              7              14           —            21
Second quarter
Nederland – Armani Douglas 19 pass from Blaysin Fernandez (Payne Barrow kick), 9:23
Nederland – Fernandez 2 run (Barrow kick), 4:25
Nederland – Adam Roccaforte 44 pass from Blaysin Fernandez (Barrow kick), 3:49
Nederland – Blayne Burnett 19 pass from Fernandez (Barrow kick), 0:59
Third quarter
Nederland – Kade Scott 18 run (Barrow kick), 8:47
Vidor – Jackson LaPray 6 run (Jackson LaPray kick), 4:38
Fourth quarter
Nederland – Scott 7 run (Barrow kick), 11:02
Nederland – Carsen Arline 33 pass from Fernandez (Barrow kick), 7:42
Vidor – Zach Dahlenburg 14 run (LaPray kick), 6:04
Nederland – Brycen Grusecki 6 run (Kick failed), 3:22
Vidor – LaPray 26 run (LaPray kick), 1:21

Ned       Vidor
First downs        21           11
Rushes-yards     41-276   44-280
Passing yards     165         0
Total yards          441         280
Comp-Att-Int     11-20-0 0-3-1
Fumbles-lost     2-2          1-0
Penalties-yards 5-55       3-40
Punts-Avg.          1-40.0    5-40.0

Individual statistics
RUSHING — Nederland: Kade Scott 26-207, Blaysin Fernandez 9-41 Armani Douglas 4-25; Vidor: Zach Dahlenburg 10-75, Brad Nunez 9-45, Jackson LaPray 8-81, Kelby Odom 6-55.
PASSING — Nederland: Blaysin Fernandez 11-20-0—165; Vidor: Gage Galloway 0-2-0—0, Cree Smith 0-1-1—0.
RECEIVING — Nederland: Armani Douglas 3-42, Blayne Burnett 3-21, Brycen Grusecki 2-38, Kade Scott 2-31, Carsen Arline 1-33.