Erath stuns Abbeville, 31-21

ERATH — The Erath High Bobcats executed their offensive game plan better than the Abbeville Wildcats in their District 5-3A football game Friday night at Robert J. Segura Memorial Stadium.
The result was a 31-21 win for the Bobcats, who improved to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the district. Abbeville fell to 5-3 and 1-1.
“Every week, we’ve been building,” Erath coach Eric LeBlanc said. “You can see since the shutout against VC, a really good team, we’ve had Vinton, St. Martinville, Kaplan, and now Abbeville. The guys are buying in, they’re working hard in practice, and tonight you could tell, in all three phases we did well.”
Abbeville coach Roderick Moy didn’t mince words about what happened.
“They beat us,” Moy said. “They lined up and beat us. They lined up and did exactly what they wanted to do and didn’t allow us to do what we wanted. That’s what football is. They lined up and played a better football game than we did. Hats off to them.”
Running back Mason Hebert, quarterback Lynkon Romero and receiver Christian Pillette each had outstanding offensive nights for Erath. Hebert rushed for 138 yards on 13 carries, including a 60-yard TD run. Romero completed six of nine passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 79 yards and a TD on 10 carries. Pillette caught four passes for 145 yards, including TD catches of 74 and 29 yards.
“The key was our line blocking,” Pillette said. “Our line blocks, it gives us way more time to work.”
“Our O-line did their jobs,” Hebert said. “My brother (Austin Hebert) is a senior this year, so I knew I had to play my heart out for him because this might be our last game on this field together.
“This was a really big win for us. It gives us good momentum going into next week.”
Erath ran for 214 yards.
“We have two great running backs, and all they’re going to do is pound,” Pillette said. “They’re going to pound, they’re going to pound, and they’re going to get the big yards. Once they put more in the box (on defense to stop the run), our receivers have more room to run.”
Moy said the Bobcats didn’t show anything surprising in their game plan.
“They didn’t fool us,” he said. “They did what they did last week. They did what they’ve been successful at all year. They lined up and ran the ball right at us. I tip my hat to their physicality.”
The Wildcats ran for 226 yards, paced by Tra’Sean Greene’s 117 yards and two TDs on 17 carries. Quarterback Tahj Judge added a TD run and threw for 3 yards on five completions.
“Abbeville’s a great team,” LeBlanc said. “Looking at their offense, they’re big and physical, and they’ve got some fast running backs, a really good fullback and some good wideouts. They put us in a bind skill wise, and I thought our guys performed well on defense. They did.”
Twice Erath led by two touchdowns, and twice Abbeville rallied to within a TD, but the Bobcats never relinquished the lead. A fumble return to the Erath 10 set up Judge’s one-yard TD to pull the Wildcats to within 28-21, but Erath ran the clock down to 1:05 left on the ensuing possession, and Duhon kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it 31-21.
“The one that killed us was the fumble down here in the red zone,” Leblanc said. “We were up two scores. I’m just glad the offense responded, and we took it down and were able to kick the field goal.
Erath closes out district play tho week at Crowley. Abbeville plays host to St. Martinville in a district game on Friday.