KFDM COOP's Content - Page 1133 - SETXsports.com- Your Source for Sports on Southeast Texas

PA NEWS GAME OF THE WEEK: LUMBERTON AT PN-G Indians, Raiders battle for top spot By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News PORT NECHES -- From one end of Pure Atlantic Highway to the other, those 2007 Port Neches-Groves Indians are the new Champions of Mid-County. They earned it -- fair and square -- 28-16 at Bulldog Stadium. Even Larry Neumann said they earned it. By golly, Indian Ken knows they earned it.... but Lumberton could care less. Lumberton has no use for all that Mid-County Braggin' Rights stuff. A former PN-G receivers coach, second-year Lumberton mentor Alvin Credeur has been through all that Mid-County Madness matter. Alvin believes his senior-laden Lumberton squad has its eyes on another meaningful prize -- a District 22-4A football championship. Never in their modest 41-year history have the Raiders ever been to the UIL state football playoffs. Credeur may have something to do with rewriting that history this year. Never in seven tries have the Raiders defeated PN-G, either. Yet do not put it past Lumberton (6-0 and 3-0) to accomplish that novel achievement tonight at Indian Stadium. Such a victory certainly would spoil the 2007 Homecoming festivities on The Reservation for PN-G (4-2 and 3-0). But there's already a lot which critics can't take away from either of these 22-4A co-leaders. They can't take that win over Nederland away from PN-G's hard-working seniors, who yearned for that first taste of Mid-County Madness success. They can't take away from Lumberton the fact that the Raiders are the only team on earth to defeat both Dayton and Beaumont Central this year. Lest we forget, the Broncos and the Jaguars were the league's 2006 powerhouses and 2007 pre-season favorites. Understandably, the events have created unprecedented hoopla and community involvement for the Raiders. Yet when all the distractions subside, enormous similarities exist all over the place between PN-G and Lumberton. Both teams run the ball... and run the ball some more. They even huddle. They even shorten the game. They offer great appeal for fans who love 50s, 60s, and 70s football. Both teams have seniors, seniors and more seniors, with plenty of returning starters. Both teams have head coaches with sons playing integral roles as seniors on those teams. Indians' defensive end Clint Burnett is playing as if he's lobbying for a spot on the Port Arthur News Super Team. Raiders handy-man Aaron Credeur plays quarterback occasionally, starts at split end and probably cleans up the locker room when dad needs his help. As Indians' chief Matt Burnett has expressed before, the Lumberton coach practically felt like a dad to all this group of Raiders seniors. After all, he came to Lumberton six seasons ago as a seventh-grade coach when these seniors were seventh-graders. The familiar characteristics in these coaches and their teams almost make Credeur pinch himself. "It's funny, isn't it?" Credeur said on Thursday. "It really is... Our two ballclubs are very similar, I think.