Erath wins crazy game against North Vermilion

ERATH - It may have been the full moon. It may have been the emotions of the game. But, on the other hand, it may have been something else.
But whatever it was, Friday’s battle between Vermilion Parish rivals Erath and North Vermilion had both head coaches scratching their heads as the Bobcats jumped out to an early lead and held off a Patriot rally in the second half for the 31-24 win.
“It was a weird first quarter for us,” Erath head coach Eric LeBlanc said. “We had people open, overthrew a couple, had a couple of drops and I thought that we were in the position to put some points up tonight, and we didn’t, and that’s frustrating.
“Then I look at the scoreboard, and we put up 31. We haven’t put up 31 all year.”
Part of the game’s strangeness was that Erath scored 3 points in the first quarter with a struggling offensive display, and then boom, they put up 21-second quarter points as the offense kicked in gear.
Erath quarterback Lynkon Romero threw two long touchdown passes in the quarter and a touchdown run to put the Bobcats up 24-3 over North Vermilion by halftime.
Then another round of weirdness kicked in in the third quarter as North Vermilion scored two touchdowns and held Erath off the board to cut the lead to 24-17. NVHS quarterback Isiah Whitlock threw a touchdown pass and running back Benny Freeman had a touchdown run. Patriots were back in the game.
“I told the kids it doesn’t matter what the score is. We have to find a way to come together,” NV head coach Brett Blakey said. “They fought their butts off. I’m super proud of the coaches and the kids because they never quit in the second half and they had the opportunity to.”
But the Patriots couldn’t keep the momentum going as Erath, whose offense was stuck in neutral coming out of halftime, kicked it in again after a 50-yard completion from Romero to Christian Pillette. His second 50-yard catch of the game set up a Trent Bristow touchdown run to extend the lead to 31-17 with 1:54 left in the third quarter.
One more time, North Vermilion rallied with a 70-yard touchdown pass from Whitlock to Jag Broussard, and the deficit was back to seven at 31-24.
NV had one more chance to tie the game late, but a bad snap over Whitlock’s head gave Erath the ball, and the Bobcats converted a third-down play for a first down and were able to run out the clock on the win.
“They made a play, and we didn’t,” Blakey said. “That’s football.
“We’re 0-4 but I’m encouraged. We have to keep grinding. That’s all we can do.”
LeBlanc was happy with the win but saw plenty where his Bobcats can improve.”
“We made a lot of mistakes tonight,” the EHS coach said. “We’ll review the film and make the corrections we need to make.”
For Erath, Romero finished 17-of-40 for 310 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also had 68 yards rushing. Pillette had three catches for 121 yards and a touchdown and Austin Hebert had five catches for 83 yards and a score and Bristow had 38 yards and a touchdown rushing.
Whitlock finished 8-of-20 for 51 yards, and a touchdown. Freeman finished with 51 yards rushing.
On Friday, Erath (3-1) plays at Vermilion Catholic, while North Vermilion plays host to Iota.