8-Man Football

Nederland Football Proves a Cinderella Story

By Richard Martin, 11-02-06

In my preseason pigskin preview I spotlighted the Nederland Bulldogs, who hadn't won a game since 2003 and who switched this year to 8-man football. The Bulldogs finished their season this week, and a remarkable season it was: Nederland went 6-2, made the playoffs, and played in their first post-season game at home since 1969.

That they dropped the first-round game 43-6 to powerful Haxtun barely dented the resurgence engineered by coach Aaron Jones, quarterback John Beck, and the rest of the senior class, who'd never won a game in their high school careers until this fall.

Nederland's Cinderella story is enhanced by the presence of junior nose guard Danny Dalldorf, who has Asperger Syndrome, considered by many physicians a less severe form of autism.

Invited to join the team this year after another player noticed him leg-pressing 700 pounds in the weight room, Dalldorf proved a hard worker and a stalwart lineman who hits like "a cinder block." His brother Matthew, also born with Asperger, has a black belt in aikido.

The gridiron turnaround has inspired not just the players and the cheerleaders but the whole town, not known for its support of traditional American pastimes like contact sports.

"It's great, not just us as seniors but for the whole school," Beck, the quarterback, told the Daily Camera. "It gets them motivated and next year our juniors now, who will be seniors, and underclassmen will be ready."

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