Erath Bobcats cruise to victory

By William Weathers
PLAQUEMINE – A healthy and productive Elijah Mitchell means a great deal to the success of Erath’s offense.
Just ask quarterback Ben LeBlanc.
With Mitchell off to a fast start with three touchdowns in the first 27 minutes of Thursday’s road game against St. John of Plaquemine, LeBlanc was the beneficiary of a run-conscious defense in the second half.
That enabled LeBlanc to go to work, passing for 154 of his 177 yards and two touchdowns during a four-minute stretch of the third quarter, helping Erath to pull away to a 33-14 victory that spoiled St. John’s homecoming at Andrew Canova Stadium.
The Bobcats (2-3) won their second straight game heading into the start of District 6-3A play at Abbeville on Friday.
“I think this week we game planned a lot more,” LeBlanc said. “With a running back like Elijah it’s very easy to be diverse and catching some corners (cornerbacks) sitting some times.”
Erath’s 20-point eruption in the second half came after St. John had pulled to within 20-6 midway through the third quarter on Willie Williams’ 51-yard run.
Mitchell, who rushed 20 times for 119 times, made it 20-0 on Erath’s first possession of the third quarter with his third touchdown of the game, a 2-yard run over the right side.
Following St. John’s touchdown, the Bobcats scored on consecutive possessions with LeBlanc throwing touchdown passes of 52 yards to Ross Granger and 47 yards to Scott Moore with 2:32 left in the third quarter.
“I was pleased we were balanced,” Erath coach David Comeaux said. “Elijah’s our workhorse, but Ben is such a commander, a leader more than anything else. He was on. I think the ground game opened it up for him a little bit and when he did throw it deep our receivers went and got it.”
Erath responded to St. John’s touchdown and quickly moved into Eagles territory on Mitchell’s 13-yard run on first down.
A holding penalty knocked the Bobcats back into their territory but on second-and-six LeBlanc found Granger on a back-shoulder fade that he came down with at the 15-yard line and scored with Hunter Touchet adding his third successful extra point.
Erath then held St. John at its own 47, forcing an incompletion on fourth down, and LeBlanc went right to work on first down, hitting Moore in stride along the Bobcats sideline for a commanding 33-6 advantage.
“We’ve been practicing that for a lot of weeks,” said LeBlanc, who completed 6 of 9 passes. “I’ve been staying after practice with Luke and Ross and working on those routes and where I’ve got to put it. We’ve been putting in extra work and it showed.
“I couldn’t do it with my men up front,” LeBlanc said. “They get all of my respect. They did great and gave me all of the protection I needed to complete those passes.”
Erath gained 251 of its 368 yards in the second half and wound up rushing the ball 35 times for 191 yards.
Moore led the Bobcats with three receptions for 79 yards and Granger added two catches for 63 yards.
“It works pretty good with me running and then they’re throwing passes,” said Mitchell, who gained 148 yards in last week’s 21-20 win over Franklin. “If kind of gives me a break and opens up an alley for me to run.”
Erath won the early battle of field position to set up Mitchell’s first 2-yard score on the final play of the first quarter.
Granger’s 47-yard punt was downed at St. John’s 10-yard line and following a three-and-out and short punt, Erath went four plays in 28 yards for a 7-0 lead.
LeBlanc engineered Erath’s longest scoring drive of the game – 7 plays, 60 yards in just under four minutes - with pass completions of 11 yards to Granger and 12 to Moore. Mitchell then took a handoff to the left on a stretch play, cut up the field and off of Luke Young’s block to complete the 21-yard scoring run with 4:49 to go before halftime.
“I wouldn’t be able to score if it wasn’t for my linemen blocking on the outside,” Mitchell said. “Apparently my blocks were there because I got in the end zone."

Erath Stats
Rushing:

Elijah Mitchell 20-119, 3 TDs
Coy LeBlanc 5-28
Scott Moore 5-16
Ben LeBlanc 3-15

Passing

Ben LeBlanc 6-9-0-177, 2 TDs

Receiving

Scott Moore 3-79. TD
Ross Granger 2-63, TD
Luke Young 1-35

Punting

Ross Granger 1-47