Road Dogs: Nederland High heads to Jacksonville in search of 1st win
Published 12:02 am Friday, October 9, 2020
- Nederland’s defense, including Jordan Durisseau (44), Kerrington Broussard (4) and Gage Driskill (15) faced a potent Lufkin offense on Oct. 2. (I.C. Murrell/The News) 10-2-20
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NEDERLAND — The Nederland Bulldogs are traveling to Jacksonville in search of their first win of the season on Saturday. Kick off is set for 2 p.m. at The Tomato Bowl.
The Indians (0-2), members of District 9-5A Division II, are also in search of their first win after losing their season opener 38-25 to Crandall and last week’s game, 59-8, to Cleburne. Nederland is coming off a 31-28 loss to Lufkin in its season opener.
“This will be a real road trip for us,” Nederland head coach Monte Barrow said. “We don’t have anymore this far, but we go to Santa Fe. The way our district is spread out, we go pretty far.”
Barrow said the trip is a test for players that haven’t traveled very far.
“It will be good to take a road trip and see the differences in how you prepare yourself mentally for an away game,” he said. “Hopefully it will be sunny. It will feel, kind of, like college football. That’s what I told them. It will be exciting for them.”
The trek takes approximately three hours, as Jacksonville is just over 183 miles from Nederland.
“When 4A and under started before us, all of that got thrown out,” Barrow said. “We had West Orange[-Stark] game one. We couldn’t be picky and choosy about who you play. We need the games. Our kids needed to play.”
He said he emphasized in-game situations to his players.
“There are situations you only get in a game,” Barrow said. “We had some come up last week and you hope they come up again. One of them is the speed of Friday night action. It’s different than the speed of practice or going up against JV kids that are younger and not at that level yet.”
The Bulldogs will have a bye next week before they open up District 12-5A Division II play against Port Neches-Groves Oct. 23.
While all other area teams moved their games to Thursday or Saturday to avoid any potential bad weather from Hurricane Delta, the forecast for Saturday’s game in Jacksonville is partly cloudy with highs of 84 degrees.
The Bulldogs will likely look to get senior running back Josh Mazyck going after he was held to 20 yards on 13 carries against Lufkin.
The majority of Nederland’s success came from the air as quarterback Rene Cunningham completed 21-of-31 passes for 291 yards.
NEDERLAND (0-1) AT JACKSONVILLE (0-2) PREP FOOTBALL; 2 P.M. SATURDAY, THE TOMATO BOWL, 202 AUSTIN ST., JACKSONVILLE; KLVI-AM 560
