Vermilion Catholic blows out Erath

ERATH — The Vermilion Catholic Eagles stayed hot Friday night, rolling up 377 total yards and collecting their third shutout in four games this season with a 34-0 win at Erath.
The Eagles (4-0) have not allowed a point in nine straight quarters. Erath was held to 154 total yards, including a 3-for-16 passing effort.
“We’re proud of it,” Vermilion Catholic head coach Broc Prejean said of his team’s defensive efforts this year. “The zeros, I know how much they mean to the kids. They mean a whole lot to me, too. But it’s just the way we’re playing, the tenacity we’re playing with, that overshadows the scoreboard, it really does.
“It’s just a group effort, a lot of trust, a lot of communication going on out there that’s tough to see from the stands, but it’s showing up on Friday nights, and we’re incredibly proud.”
The Eagles scored on their first three possessions to go up 21-0, and on four of their six first-half possessions. A TD on their first possession of the second half proved to be the final scoring of the night, with a high snap leading to a failed point-after try following the final touchdown.
VC quarterback Jonathan Dartez threw for 111 yards and two touchdowns on seven-of-12 passing and was intercepted once. Dartez also ran for a game-high 110 yards on 17 carries, while Travin Moore rushed for 78 yards and a pair of TDs, and Tyjh Williams added 53 yards and a TD, each on seven carries. The Eagles averaged 6.7 yards per rush.
“We’ve got to continue to make strides offensively, and we know that,” Prejean said. “We’ve just got to differentiate and make sure we can get the ball to different guys and spread people out. They loaded the box on us tonight. I was proud of our offensive line for still being able to make the run game go. And then Jon Jon made some big throws, and we could make some big catches.”
Four players caught passes for VC, led by Dane Richoux’s 46 yards on three reception. Ross Dartez had a 40-yard TD on a screen pass on the first possession for the Eagles, and Moore added 18 yards and a TD on two catches. Hudson Hebert had a seven-yard reception for the other catch.
Lynkon Romero led the Bobcats (2-2) with34 yards passing and 43 yards rushing on eight carries. Blake Dautreuil had 37 yards on eight runs, and Mason Hebert carried 14 times for 32 yards.
Erath head coach Eric LeBlanc said his team has things to work on this week. The Bobcats were flagged nine times for 65 yards, while VC was penalized eight times for 40 yards. Each team lost a fumble in addition to throwing an interception.
“There were some things I saw tonight that had nothing to do with football,” LeBlanc said. “That hit me hard. We hadn’t had that in a couple of years.
“I think as a coaching staff, there are some things we need to do to get the team moving in the right direction and to step up in this big, emotional game. It’s a big rivalry for these kids. There are some things we need to do as a staff to correct and right the ship.”
LeBlanc said it didn’t look like his players were too emotional before the game.
“I thought our pregame was nice,” LeBlanc said. “I didn’t see anything extra in the hour leading up to the game.”
Vermilion Catholic opens District 7-A play Friday at Highland Baptist in New Iberia. Then, Erath travels to Vinton for a non-district game.
“We’ve got another week of practice,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve got six days with the kids to get better. It’s some things not related to football that we’ve got to fix. When you watch the film, there’s always something that you can fix. But as a team, we took a couple of steps back tonight, and we need to move forward from there and fix some things internally.”