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NEDERLAND — The Nederland Bulldogs will play in the third round of the UIL playoffs for the first time since 2012.

After defeating Pine Tree 34-21 Dec. 19 in the area round of the 5A Division II Region III playoffs, the Bulldogs face Fort Bend Marshall on Dec. 26.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Turner Stadium in Humble.

In 2012, the Bulldogs defeated Dayton 21-7 in the bi-district round, Pflugerville Connally 17-10 in the area round and Pearland Dawson 22-19 in the third. Nederland fell 38-6 to Georgetown in the quarterfinals.

Georgetown went on to lose 48-37 to Denton Guyer in the 4A Division I state title game.

Eight years ago, all of the current Nederland players were in elementary school. Larry Neumann was the head coach of the Bulldogs. Port Neches-Groves had missed the playoffs and Memorial fell 49-31 to Manvel in the first round.

Also in 2012:

• “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye was the No. 1 song followed by “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen and “We Are Young” by Fun featuring Janelle Monae on the Billboard top 100. Frank Ocean dropped his debut album Channel Orange.
• Walt Disney Studios released Marvel’s The Avengers in theaters, which became the highest grossing movie ever up to that point earning $1.5 billion. The Dark Knight Rises was also released and earned $1 billion. Lincoln, 50 Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games were also released.
• Knicks backup point guard Jeremy Lin took the NBA by storm early in the year after averaging 25 points and nine assists for a few weeks. The phenomenon was dubbed “Linsanity.”
• The viral YouTube sensation “Gangnam Style” set the Internet ablaze.
• The United States won the summer Olympics in London.
• Disney bought Lucas Films and the rights to the Star Wars franchise.
• Instagram exploded in popularity with more than 40 million users.
• The iPhone 5 launched in the fall.