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Posted

Bulldogs, Panthers studying numbers for playoff matchup

By Tom Halliburton

The Port Arthur News

DAYTON -- Numbers never lie. Therefore tonight's 4A Division I bidistrict playoff outcome should be obvious between 4-4 Nederland and 7-2 C.E. King.

The Harris Rating System has regarded the District 19-4A Panthers with higher rankings than Nederland, too.

Yet quite a few statistics might lean in Nederland's direction, when the teams converge on the Fieldturf of Bronco Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

The Panthers of ninth-year head coach Mike Malkowski graduated from an East Houston region eight-team district containing three first-year schools (Humble Kingwood Park, Goose Creek Memorial and North Forest). The combined record of King's nine opponents amounted to an ugly 32-49.

Meanwhile, Larry Neumann's Bulldogs emerged from their Golden Triangle eight-team league. Toss in West Orange-Stark among Nederland's eight foes, the combined mark of Nederland's opponents stretched to 39-30.

Numbers never lie... do they?

Here's the knockout numbers that make it extremely hard to pick against Nederland tonight. When the Golden Triangle 4A district has confronted East Houston over the last four years, the combined GT record has reached a whopping 12-0 dating back to Nov. 2004. Toss in the Golden Triangle's 2003 bidistrict ledger in 4A against the Conroe area and that record has inflated to 15-0.

Remember... numbers never lie.

Attention impressive set of numbers in the Bulldogs favor are those belonging to District 20-4A rushing leader Wareall Grogram (1,250 yards, 7.6 average per carry, 15 TDs), district passing leader Kirby Bellow (1,514 yards, 16 TDs) and 20-4A receiving leader Asa Cardenas (542 yards, 16.4 average per catch, 8 TDs).

Those numbers would get anybody’s attention.

One number that will tell the truth will be the final scoreboard. When the Dogs step off the bus here just a block or two from Texas 146, they know the mission is to somehow, some way score at least one more point than C.E. King -- whether it's 7-6, 54-53, or 69-68.

The 49-year-old Malkowski would prefer the score to be lower than higher.

"I hope it's not that way (49-48)," he laughed on Thursday. "But it very well could be.

"I think we're fairly evenly matched. It's probably going to come down to mistakes. And Nederland always comes at you with a great coaching staff. They made some tremendous second-half adjustments when they beat us in 2005 at Pasadena."

The tone of Neumann's remarks suggest he might expect a game for the adding machines and calculators. That's fairly typical with Nederland, the 20-4A total offense champion at 365.4 yards and more than 30 points a game.

"We may wind up getting in a game like that, because teams have run against us so effectively for the past four weeks," the NHS boss admitted. "It's hard on me. I'm getting tired of it."

Larry's assessment of C.E. King also revealed the same tendencies.

"C.E. King has four good running running backs," Neumann began. "Their quarterback (Josh Williams) is an outstanding runner (30 carries for 343 yards). They're an option team and the big fullback (Alvester Alexander, 145 carries for 1,135 yards and 16 TDs) is the focus of their offense. Defensively, they've had some points scored against them."

Malkowski saw the same strong similarity.

"Nederland looks similar to what we've been but they run and throw it so well and they have one of the best offensive lines we've seen," C.E. King's coach said. "I think we're playing better defense than in the last couple of years. I would classify us as a pesky defense. We saw a lot of video of Dayton and when we played them, we looked equally as bad as the rest of Dayton's opponents."

C.E. King rebounded from that 46-7 loss to Dayton and captured a 39-24 triumph last week against Crosby. Whereas Nederland has rushed for 1,415 yards and passed for 1,514 yards to total 2,929 yards, CE King has gained 3,504 yards with 3,090 on the ground.

The Panthers feature the same double-wing, and similar schemes to Malkowski's previous years. What's the difference? Turnovers. While Nederland's turnover ratio is zero, C.E. King is plus 11 through nine games.

"That's where we've really changed," Malkowski said. "We dropped the ball about 24 times in the two previous years and we have limited that."

The Panthers' defense allowed 282 yards per game, led by senior LB Ryan Layton, senior end Omar Ruiz and junior end Nathaniel Branford. Nederland's defense has yielded 350.3 yards a game (7th among 8 teams in 20-4A) and defensive coordinator Delbert Spell has aged while yearning for new leaders to step up.

Two of them who may have played their best games last week were end Anthony Maddox and tackle Marcus Louvier. Two more starters rejoin the lineup after sitting out one-game suspensions last week -- end Dionte Forney and corner Asa Cardenas.

NEDERLAND AT C.E. KING

When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Bronco Stadium, Dayton

Records: Nederland 4-4, 4-3; C.E. King 7-2, 6-1 '

At Stake: Class 4A Division I bidistrict playoffs

Series: Tied 1-1

Last year: Nederland, 34-16, in 2005 Class 4A bidistrict playoffs at Pasadena

TV: Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience, Cable 18, Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Directions to Bronco Stadium: Travel west on I-10 to the Texas 146 exit. Travel north on Texas 146 into Dayton. Bronco Stadium is located at the intersection of West Houston Street and Texas 146. Arrows into the Bronco Stadium parking area usually are visible from Texas 146. Seating capacity is 8,500. The Bulldogs will occupy the east stands opposite from the tall west press box side. All tickets at the stadium gate cost $6.

NEDERLAND OFFENSE

SE -- Asa Cardenas (21)

LT -- Ben Jones (62)

LG -- Khoby Moore (60)

C -- Trey Terracina (56)

RG -- Nick Smith (53)

RT -- Stefan Huber (54)

FL -- Ryan Brady (7)

LSLOT -- Brent Salenga (4)

RSLOT -- Jude Vidrine (5)

QB -- Kirby Bellow (3)

RB -- Wareall Grogan (2)

CE KING DEFENSE

LE -- Omar Ruiz (44)

NT -- Sharod Wright (70)

RE -- Nathaniel Branford (54)

SLB -- Sherman Moton (8)

ILB -- Forrest Celestine (35)

ILB -- Ryan Layton (9)

BAN -- Carlton King (38)

LCB -- Terrence Guy (3)

RCB -- Josh Harris (20)

Posted

I believe Jacob Hanna is the 20-4A rushing leader.

20-4A Rushing Leaders

Name                  Team                Att          Yds          Yds/Att            TD

Jacob Hanna      Lumberton            161          1,239            7.70              17 

Wareall Grogan    Nederland            143          1,078            7.54              13

Posted

I believe Jacob Hanna is the 20-4A rushing leader.

20-4A Rushing Leaders

Name                   Team                 Att           Yds           Yds/Att             TD

Jacob Hanna       Lumberton            161          1,239            7.70               17 

Wareall Grogan    Nederland             143          1,078            7.54               13

Tom was talking about in DISTRICT games I think. Hanna had one more game non-distrct than Grogan. Both are great backs so it really does not matter.

Posted

SE Texas loves stats ;D ;D ;D and twisting them for the good of the team  ;D ;D

Should be a good game but since Nederland won the last game and King the game before that then statistically it is CE Kings turn ;D ;D ;D

Edge goes to King ,but I will not be shocked iof Nederland wins!

Posted

Here are the box scores for the past 10 games the Mustangs have played...

A few things stand out:

WO-S has not been scored on in the 3rd quarter since the Giddings Area Round Playoff game in 2007.

The Mustangs currently have scored in 18 consecutive quarters (counting the overtime with Silsbee) and shutout their opponent in 17 of those same 18 quarters.

wosboxscore2008.gif

SE Texas loves stats ;D ;D ;D and twisting them for the good of the team  ;D ;D

Should be a good game but since Nederland won the last game and King the game before that then statistically it is CE Kings turn ;D ;D ;D

Edge goes to King ,but I will not be shocked iof Nederland wins!

Looking at the stats, the way we shut out WOS in the 1st quarter, with 4 starters missing, the defense of the Dogs may not be getting the respect it deserves. Dogs cruise tonight.

Posted

#'s dont lie...

The Bulldogs have been scored on in bunches in the last three weeks.

Defense dominates in the playoffs.

Nederland will have to outscore King to win.

Overall, I think King has the better team, but on any given day any team can win.

As previously stated, leave it to Halliburton to make the Bulldogs look like world beaters.

off subject...

Nice to see Bronco Stadium is getting a 4A playoff game.

I hope both teams enjoy the facilities...

Anybody from Dayton know if there are plans to put a new field house in the cleared land on the west end of the stadium?

Also....

Bulldog fans you are lucky tonight...

If the cold front blows through, the stands you are seating in face the south, so the wind will be at your backs, might make it a little more bearable.

GOOD LUCK TO BOTH TEAMS AND HAVE A SAFE ROUND TRIP TO DAYTON AND BACK!

Posted

Kinda off topic again.  I was at Dayton 2 years ago (really don't want to talk about the outcome of that game  :'( )  Very Nice field.  Has there been any other upgrades since then?

Posted

Kinda off topic again.  I was at Dayton 2 years ago (really don't want to talk about the outcome of that game  :'( )  Very Nice field.  Has there been any other upgrades since then?

The new homeside stands weren't up yet. the old home side is now visitor and the new home side is HUGE by our standards with a couple reserved sections of seats with arms and backs. Get there early if you want one of those. only about 500 or so.

Posted

I look at it as one of Nederland's more heroid playoff performances.  I don't think there's any other way to look at it.

Posted

I loved the display of excitement by the players as the clock was winding down.  They knew they had just accomplished something special.  It has been a while since I've seen that kind of emotion from both Big Ned players and their fans.  It was great to see!!

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