By TOM HALLIBURTON
Port Arthur News Sports Writer
PORT NECHES – They will play this one back for ages in Mid County. Kind of like the United States Presidential election, this one was too close to call.
But it ended painfully for a high-quality Port Neches-Groves senior Joey Price, who has represented his school with great dignity for three years.
Price undoubtedly will place far too much of the blame on his shoulders after this traumatic night, because his 48-yard field goal with 12 seconds to play had plenty of distance but sailed wide to the right by about six feet, according to an official who stood by the goalposts and never hesitated to make the call.
That’s the tiny difference at the end between Nederland 21, PN-G 19, in a most memorable 77th Mid County Madness renewal – the closest victory margin in 13 years – before an overflow Indian Stadium crowd of 14,000.
Price understandably took the kick as any great competitor would. He was reportedly distraught about it. But he caught more passes than any District 20-4A receiver and he’s a sure-fire all-district selection. The Indians would not have been in a position to win without him. He was the game’s most prolific receiver with 110 yards as well as the game’s better punter with two kicks for 40 yards.
Price did not in any way deserve to place this loss squarely on his shoulders. Here’s a bunch of strong reasons why he shouldn’t:
· The Indians lost five turnovers, finishing the season at minus-8 in that category. It haunted them as it had in previous losses. PN-G head coach Matt Burnett was quick to say so, too.
· The Bulldogs jumped to a 21-6 lead thanks to the sensational work of Sean Yoder, who secured his bid for District 20-4A player of the year on this final regular-season night. Yoder scored three touchdowns, catching two TD tosses and returning an third-quarter interception 62 yards for his third score.
· Nederland’s offensive line made one of its better statements of the year, trying a different alignment with new starters. The Dogs afforded Kevin Barbay plenty of time to throw. The senior quarterback connected on 11 of 14 passes for 115 yards.
All those trinkets enabled Nederland to improve to 9-1 and 4-1 and snap a two-game losing streak against its arch-rival. Coach Larry Neumann’s Bulldogs will play Vidor in their 4A Division I bidistrict round next weekend. The Pirates clinched the Division I bid from District 19 by defeating Lumberton, 15-7, Friday night in Vidor.
“It’s tough to win this rival game after you’ve been down and lost it a couple of times,” Neumann said. “That monkey’s off our back now. We played real focused in the first half, and maybe we got on our heels a bit. I don’t know if we let up or if they turned it up.
“You have to give PN-G a lot of credit for coming back like that. Price is a great athlete and good things will happen to him. We knew he had plenty of leg to make that kick. I couldn’t tell it went wide until it went past the upright.”
While Nederland moves on, coach Matt Burnett’s Indians wrapped up a season with injuries and quarterback adjustments at 5-5 and 2-3. Yet they had ample opportunities to return to the 4A Division II bracket, especially during their furious 13-point fourth-quarter rally.
PN-G owned the stat sheet as a losing team so often has tended to do after a game such as this. The Indians led in first downs, 17-7, and prevented NHS from making a first down in the second half. PN-G also led in rushing (146-97) and passing (219-115) yards, snapping the ball 61 to 51 plays. But Burnett bemoaned the fact that his team also led in one statistic that it preferred not to lead – turnovers.
“You can’t win a game like that with many turnovers,” Burnett said. “They turned it over and we turned it over right back to them. I thought we physically controlled them in the second half other than Yoder’s interception. Joey’s a great kid and it’s unfair for him to put a lot of this on his shoulders. We had a good team but we can’t turn it over that many times and win.”
PN-G cannot dispute that Nederland certainly took the first half by storm. The Dogs had the ball 15:44 to 8:19 in the opening half, owning command of the lines of scrimmage. Yoder caught first-half scoring passes of 45 and 18 yards in the final 30 seconds of each quarter.
Yoder hauled in a bomb from Barbay between Troy Cooley and Keegan Swann with 27 seconds left in the first stanza. He sneaked behind Cooley and accepted Barbay’s lob after a play-fake with 24 seconds left in the half.
Price took his turn to reach the pay station, getting wide open in the end zone corner behind Michael Montoya on a 28-yard scoring pass from Tony Bowser with 6:47 left in the third quarter. The bad snap on the extra-point kick left Nederland ahead 14-6.
Since it reached the third quarter’s final minute, it was time for Yoder to show his magic again. He leaped high in the air at Nederland’s 38 to intercept Bowser’s pass intended for Price. Bulldogs’ pass rusher Jeff Mayhew had pressured Bowser before the pass. Yoder grabbed the interception and sprinted 62 yards for a comfy 21-6 Dogs’ lead with 40 seconds left in the quarter.
Yoder was not around afterwards to discuss any of his plays. He received a concussion and appeared “real dizzy” after the game, according to NHS assistant coach Kip McFarlin.
When PN-G realized the sense of playoff urgency at stake, the Tribe raised its game a notch. Bowser – 11 of 26 for 219 – fired his game’s second touchdown toss, a 38-yarder to Kirk Hallmark with 10:22 to play. Another conversion pass failed, leaving NHS ahead 21-12. Bowser wasn’t done yet. After a three-and-out, he guided PN-G to an 8-play, 55-yard scoring drive. The lead option clicked with Bergeron dashing home on a 20-yard score with 5:14 to play. Price’s kick cut Nederland’s edge to 21-19.
That’s when the teams swapped fumble on consecutive plays with Cody Clark claiming a ball which escaped Barbay, and Ryan Piletere covered a loose ball which popped free from Bergeron.
The Indians would have one last shot, moving from their 48 to Nederland’s 31 in the game’s final three minutes. The Nederland celebration certainly had been delayed but it still had deserved to erupt.
Game Statistics
Nederland PN-G
First downs 7 17
Rushes-yards 31-97 33-146
Comp-Att-Int. 11-14-1 11-26-2
Passing yards 115 219
Punts-avg. 6-28 2-40
Fumbles-lost 2-2 5-3
Penalties-yards 8-55 6-40
Nederland (9-1, 4-1) 7 7 7 0 — 21
PN-Groves (5-5, 2-3) 0 0 6 13 — 19
N–Sean Yoder 45 pass from Kevin Barbay (Michael Mitchell kick) 0:27, 1st
N–Yoder 18 pass from Barbay (Mitchell kick) 0:24, 2nd
PNG–Joey Price 28 pass from Tony Bowser (kick failed) 6:47, 3rd
N–Yoder 62 interception return (Mitchell kick) 0:40, 3rd
PNG–Kirk Hallmark 38 pass from Bowser (pass failed) 10:22, 4th
PNG–Jeff Bergeron 20 run (Price kick) 5:14, 4th
Leading rushers N–Joe Ramoin 18-73. PNG–Jeff Bergeron 21-116, 1 TD.
Leading passers N–Kevin Barbay 11-14-1, 115 yards, 2 TD. PNG–Tony Bowser 11-26-2, 219 yards, 2 TD.
Leading receivers N–Sean Yoder 6-81, 2 TD. PNG–Joey Price 4-110, 1 TD.
JV Game: PN-G 7, Nederland 0
Freshman Game: PN-G 29, Nederland 8
