ERATH -- Head coach Jacob Byler had the odds stacked against his Erath High Bobcats Friday night.

The coach, in his final year at EHS, watched as his Bobcats took on a bigger E.D. White squad that returned 15 starters from last year’s playoff team.

After the Cardinals scored on their first possession to go up 6-0, the Bobcats shut down E.D. White’s ground game to hang on for a 7-6 non-district win over the Cardinals.

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“Big win. Big, big win for our kids,” said Byler after the game. “Our kids played their hearts out, and worked their butts off this week to get ready for this game tonight and it paid off.”

The only Erath score of the game came midway through the second period when Bobcat quarterback Chris Tyson scored from seven yards out, and Dusty Uriegas’ extra point turned out to be the difference in the game,

But it was some special plays from an unexpected source that turned out to be the big difference in the game.

Twice, sophomore cornerback Mikey Seymour intercepted Cardinals quarterback Tyler Duplantis to thwart E.D. White drives, and when Erath’s regular punter Blair Sellers came out of the game with cramps late in the game, Seymour came in and nailed a 44-yard punt to pin E.D. White inside its own 5-yard line with under two minutes to play.

“Some very special plays by that kid,” said Byler. “And what a tremendous punt under pressure late in the game. That kid (Seymour) is one of the smartest players on this team, and he’s only a sophomore. What a great job under pressure on that punt especially.”

Seymour came up big when it counted Friday night. He returned the first Duplantis interception for a touchdown, but it was called back when the Bobcats were caught holding on the return. And his second pick came when E.D. White was attemtptiing to come back with about five minutes left to play.

“I thought we played hard,” said Seymour. “It was a good job by the defense. I like the way the our ‘D’ played tonight. I loved the effort this defense put out tonight, and I just got through telling them all that.”

Seymour was just out there playing center field on his first pick, but the second pick was special because he wrestled it out of the hands of Cardinals receiver Gill Meads.

“Every one of these guys is special out here,” said Seymour. “And I told them all. They know how well we played tonight.”

E.D. White’s only score came on Dillon Ledet’s one-yard run early in the first period.

After that, the Boibcats (2-0) shut down and manhandled E.D. White’s bigger, stronger offensive line. Erath limited E.D. White (1-1) to 95 yards rushing, 67 of those from Ledet, and only 13 yards passing the entire game.

The Cardinals didn’t do themselves any favors, accumulating 10 penalties for 100 yards.

Erath’s offense wasn’t exactly clicking on all cylinders, but the Bobcats did just enough of a balancing act (73 yards rushing and 79 yards passing) to squeak out the win. Tyson led the Bobcats with 32 yards rushing, and the junior quarterback for Erath completed four of nine passes with only one interception.

The Bobcats’ task doesn’t get any easier next week, when they play a Rayne team that went 9-2 and made the state playoffs last year.

“Everyone’s always bigger than us,” said Byler. “But I think this is going to be a very special team we’ve got here this year, and I’m looking for big things out of these kids.”

It would be very special indeed if the Bobcats, who last year finished second in their district yet just missed the playoffs, could make the playoffs in Byler’s final year at the school.