Lumberjacks upset Erath, 45-35

Patterson upset the Erath Bobcats, 45-35, Friday, handing Erath and the state’s leading rusher, Elijah Mitchell, their first district loss this season.
Patterson won its second straight contest to improve to 2-6 overall and 2-2 in district. Erath fell to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in district play.
Patterson coach Marvin Dantzler said the Lumberjacks knew coming into the game Mitchell would be tough to stop.
“Boy, he ran hard,” Dantzler said.
Patterson’s game plan was to onside kick the ball on kickoffs to have a 50/50 chance of keeping the ball away from Mitchell, Dantzler said.
“Our kids did a great job of slowing him down,” though Mitchell still had a great game, Dantzler said. Mitchell finished with 248 yards rushing on 32 carries with four touchdowns.
Patterson amassed 441 yards of total offense to Erath’s 374 yards.
Patterson Quarterback Hector Tolento completed 15-of-22 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns. Dontre Nicholas led Patterson with 107 yards rushing on 24 attempts and a touchdown.
The Lumberjacks and Bobcats had good field position all night as they traded onside kicks.
Patterson started the game by recovering its first onside kick on Erath’s 47-yard line. That was the only onside kick recovered by either kicking team.
Six plays later, the Lumberjacks scored on a 16-yard Brandon Ramagos catch from Tolento.
Patterson onside kicked again, but this time, the Bobcats got the ball on the Lumberjacks’ 48.
Mitchell then ran the ball 42 yards for the touchdown with 9:22 to play in the first quarter. Erath missed the extra point, so Patterson held a 7-6 lead.
On Patterson’s next drive, the Lumberjacks faked a field goal with a forward pitch to Nicholas. But that didn’t fool Erath, and Patterson turned the ball over on downs.
One drive later, a 29-yard Nicholas run and 23-yard Ramagos catch set up a 10-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Dillan Giandelone with 59 seconds left in the first quarter to give Patterson a 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.
Just before the start of the second quarter, both teams honored Erath senior Eddie Armond, who has down syndrome, according to Lafayette television station KATC. Patterson defenders fell as Armond ran into the end zone for a touchdown.
Erath tied the score at 14 with 6:25 until the half after Mitchell scored on a 39-yard touchdown run and ran the ball in for the 2-point conversion.
The Lumberjacks answered that score when Giandelone scored his second touchdown run on a 7-yard carry.
Patterson scored one more time before halftime to give the Lumberjacks a 28-14 advantage. The score came via a Tyrie Garrett 2-yard run with 14 seconds remaining.
In the third quarter, Mitchell scored his third touchdown on a 14-yard run with 7:02 remaining.
Tolento then threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Dajon Richard on the Lumberjacks’ subsequent possession to stretch Patterson’s lead to 35-21.
But Mitchell responded with his fourth touchdown run to cut Erath’s deficit to 35-28.
In the fourth quarter, Lumberjacks’ kicker Christian Soria extended Patterson’s advantage to 38-28 after kicking a 26-yard field goal with 5:40 left in the game.
Soria also finished the game 6-for-6 in extra-point attempts.
After the field goal, Erath drove 52 yards and scored on a 2-yard run by quarterback Mason Granger with 3:11 remaining.
Erath onside kicked the ball for the fourth time, but Patterson recovered the ball as the Lumberjacks had on all of the Bobcats’ onside kick attempts.
On third-and-7, Tolento connected with Khyri Harris on a 28-yard pass to set up a 19-yard touchdown run by Nicholas. That gave Patterson a 45-35 lead with just 1:46 left in the game.
With 1:11 remaining, Erath faced third-and-21, and Mitchell stepped up again for the Bobcats, catching a 23-yard pass.
But it was too little too late as Erath couldn’t do anything else after two penalties and a couple of incomplete passes.
One of the keys to Patterson’s win was that the Lumberjacks were able to answer Mitchell’s scores, Dantzler said. Once Patterson got up by two touchdowns, Dantzler said his objective “was to keep that two-score distance.”
“The field goal was huge,” Dantzler said.
Erath coach David Comeaux said, “all we needed was one stop.”
Comeaux gave “all the credit in the world to Patterson. They played an incredible game.”
“I told our guys coming in they’re going to be hungry, hungry,” Comeaux said.
Comeaux said he was proud of his team’s offense. He said he knew Erath could run the ball and throw it some on Patterson’s man defense.
Patterson still has great athletes and always will, he said.
“For us to go forward, we’re going to have to start matching up with teams that spread us out,” Comeaux said.
The Lumberjacks will focus on what they can control the next two weeks and try to get two home wins “and get into the postseason,” Dantzler said.
However “the chips fall, that’s where we’ll go and play,” whether that’s on the road or at home, Dantzler said.
“I think we proved that we can go on the road against a quality opponent and play football,” Dantzler said.