Abbeville defender Joseph Davis intercepts a pass in front of Erath receiver Talen Landry.
Abbeville quarterback Kobe Vital outruns the EHS defenders on the two point play.
Abbeville receiver Cameron Samuels does a head stand after he scores a touchdown. Samuels received a penalty for the head stand.
Abbeville makes Erath "earn" district title
When the game was over, and Erath won 42-28, Abbeville Wildcat assistant coach Brandon Johnson summarized the outcome of Friday’s football game between Erath and Abbeville.
“We made them earn it,” Johnson said proudly to the Wildcat players after the game.
The Wildcats did precisely that.
Abbeville entered the game against Erath with a 0-9 record, and they were playing for nothing but pride. They were not going to the playoffs.
The Bobcats, on the other hand, were playing for an outright district title with a win against Abbeville. They are in the Top 2 of the power rankings, and a loss could drop them to No. 5, kissing a first-round bye in the playoffs away with a loss.
The Wildcats threw for more than 230 yards, which is a season-high.
Abbeville head coach Jonathan Zenon stated that his young players are finally beginning to understand the system.
“This is the same team; we just had to get it out of them,” said Zenon. “It took 10 games for them to understand everything.”
The Wildcats, normally a running team, changed up their offense and entered the game with the idea of throwing the football.
They put that chore in the hands of newfound quarterback Kobe Vital. For at least five games, Vital was not on the team. He was a basketball player for AHS.
Vital walked up to Zenon in the gym and asked if he could play quarterback. Zenon invited him to try out. Vital has been a pleasant surprise for the last four games.
“We knew he was a basketball player, but he had so much athletic ability,” said Zenon. “He kept telling me he could play quarterback and wanted to try him out. I gave him an opportunity. He now gives us another dimension. He can run and throw the football. Plus, he thinks on the go.”
On Friday, with the AHS coaches opening up the offense, Vital threw for a career-high 230-plus yards. In the first half alone, Vital completed 7 out of 11 passes for 157 yards. He had long completions of 70 yards, 40 yards and 26 yards in the first half.
The Wildcats and the Bobcats were tied 14-14 with 7:33 to play in the second quarter.
Two big plays changed the outcome of the game.
The Bobcats drove down the field and were 35 yards from the end zone. AHS sophomore defensive back Joseph Davis intercepted Erath quarterback Jack Landry’s pass and fell on the AHS 10-yard line, stopping Erath from scoring.
An excited Wildcat team had ambitions of going downfield and scoring or eating up the clock, and they went into halftime tied 14-14.
But that all changed in a matter of seconds. The Wildcats fumbled the ball in the end zone on Abbeville’s first play after the interception. Erath defender Jahlil Charles fell on the football in the endzone, killing Abbeville’s momentum and giving Erath six points.
A few minutes later, the Bobcats scored again on a three-yard run by Mason Hebert, making it 28-14.
So, in seven minutes, the Wildcats went from tied at 14-14 to being down 28-14 at halftime.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Zenon about the turnover. “We wanted to go into halftime tied 14-14. At least it would have been a more competitive game in the second half.
“I am very proud of our team and of my seven seniors,” said Zenon. “We had several seniors who stuck it out.”
Zenon said he is also proud of his team for showing up and playing their hearts out against Erath.
‘We came in here and wanted to show everyone what the future holds for Abbeville. We are a young team loaded with sophomores and freshmen. We will be a team to reckon with next season,” Zenon said.
