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Bulldogs put 30-7 bite on LC-M
By LARRY BODIN
Port Arthur News Special Correspondent
NEDERLAND - It didn't take Nederland football players very long to put to bed all thoughts of a somewhat lackluster 30-7 victory over Little Cypress-Mauriceville here Friday night at the Dawg Pound.
Of course, with next week's District 20-4A "game of the year" showdown at the Pony Corral at West Orange on the horizon, Larry Neumann's undefeated and state-ranked Bulldogs have much bigger fish to fry.
By virtue of the Mustangs 31-15 upset of Lincoln Friday night, the collision of two of Texas' still unbeaten and highly regarded Class 4A teams will make for interesting conversation all week long.
But before the Bulldogs could start thinking about WO-S, they first had to dust aside the 2-4 Battlin' Bears, a team which ranked last in 20-4A defensive statistics and only fourth in overall total offense.
Although Nederland appeared to have cruised to victory lane with little difficulty, such was not the case.
As a matter of fact, this was a Bulldog team that may have been thinking West Orange-Stark a little too soon. But as they say, and they all say it, "a win, is a win, is a win" and you take 'em anyway you can get 'em.
Though the Bears ranked last in total defense coming into the contest, the high-octane Bulldog offense couldn't get much going through most of the first half and actually trailed 7-6 with less than a minute to the play before intermission.
"We should have known by now that everybody we've played so far this year, plays much better than they look on video," said Neumann, following the Bulldogs' seventh win of 2000 in as many tries. "It was very ugly on our part, but give LC-M some credit. They played inspired football. We just can't take anybody lightly, especially in this district."
Neumann noted "there's not a player on our football team with a smile on his face tonight. Our kids know we didn't play well."
While the Bulldogs' play wasn't at the level its been for much of the season, any time you can win by three touchdowns and score 30 points on a otherwise "off-night", it says a lot about your program, your players, and your coaching staff.
Nederland had jumped out to a 3-0 lead the first time it had the football on the strength of Michael Mitchell's 45-yard field goal with just three and a-half minutes gone in the game.
It appeared the Dogs' would put this one away early as versatile, all-everything Sean Yoder intercepted a Tim White pass, setting the hosts up in great field position at the Bear 46 yard line late in the opening quarter. This time Nederland's Kevin Barbay passed his club down the field with completions of 12, 10, and 17 yards to the LC-M eight, but the drive bogged down.
Mitchell came on again to boot another field goal, this time a 27-yarder with 8:23 left in the second. The kick gave Nederland a 6-0 lead.
Following the kickoff, LC-M started at its own nine. On the third play of the drive, halfback Justin Sibley took a pitch around the left side, found a little daylight, then cut upfield and raced 91 yards for what would be the Bears' lone touchdown of the night. Dan Pelfrey's PAT gave the visitors from Orange County a 7-6 lead, and things didn't look too well for the state-ranked Bulldogs.
Mitchell missed a 34-yard field goal attempt with just a little over two minutes before intermission, and it appeared the Bears would run out the clock and head to their lockerroom with a slim lead, but with lots of momentum.
Not this time though. It was Nederland defender Michael Boyd's time to make what could have been the game's biggest play. Boyd pounced on an errant pitchout at the LC-M 22 and the Bulldogs did what they do best - capitalize on mistakes.
Tailback Joe Ramoin, who rushed for 83 yards on 21 carries in his second outing of the year, powered his way up the middle for 15 yards and a first down at the seven. Two plays later, Barbay drilled a perfect strike to Yoder in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown. The Barbay-to-Yoder combination worked once, so why not try it again as the 'Dogs dialed the same number for the two-point conversion.
Instead of trailing at intermission, Nederland now led 14-7 and much of LC-M's upset bid was erased.
In the second half, Yoder was the center of much of Nederland's positive play. Yoder's punt return of 18 to the Little Cypress-Mauriceville 34 set up a seven-play, 34-yard touchdown drive that culminated in Ramoin's one-yard dive into the end zone. Ramoin had runs of 8, four, and five yards, and Barbay connected with Yoder for 15 to the two-yard line prior to Ramoin's TD.
Later in the third quarter, Yoder's punt return skills were displayed again as his 22-yard return to the LC-M 25 set up a Barbay to Beau Beckham six-yard TD pitch and a 28-7 Nederland lead with 4:44 to play. Nederland's Jacob Werren also had big play moments later when he raced in from the right side to tackle Sibley in the end zone for a safety.
Yoder, who arrived by airplane Friday afternoon after being out of town all week due to a death in his family, was magnificent with three punt returns averaging 16.7 yards a pop, one kickoff return of 24 yards, one interception, and a touchdown on a Barbay aerial.
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