Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Eureka receiver Josiah Graham encourages his teammates during last weekend’s game.

By Ray Hamill — The Eureka Loggers are preparing for something different this week, and head coach Jason White believes it has kept his players focused.

On Friday night, Eureka will host Windsor at Albee Stadium, looking for a quick rebound from last week’s opening loss to Placer High.

But to achieve that, they’ll have to overcome a very different offense than the one they faced a week ago, and a very different offense to the wing-T they’re used to preparing for.

“They’re a pretty solid team,” White said of the Jaguars, who are 1-0. “They do a good job spreading the ball offensively and widening the field.”

Preparing for a different offense, according to the coach, “forces your kids to really focus,” and that’s been the case at practice this week.

Eureka captains Trevor Bell (2), Jack Hill (8), Miles Meynell (75) and Chase “Biscuit” Steubing (44)

Impressive start

The Windsor offense scored five touchdowns a week ago in a comfortable 44-21 win over Casa Grande.

Quarterback Billy Boyle completed 18 of 29 passes for 229 yards and three TDs, two of them to junior receiver Nico Contreras, who had six catches total for 134 yards.

Keeping the Jaguars passing attack in check will be key for a Eureka team that impressed a week ago in a 40-27 loss to a very good Placer team.

And White will be looking for more of the same this week.

Eureka safety Hayden Bode

“I think  if we do a lot of the same things we did against Placer, we’re going to be fine,” the head coach said. “We played hard, we just played a better team. Obviously there are some things we need to fix. We played at too-high a pad level, but that’s always the way in the first game, and we missed some assignments, but we’re young.”

The Loggers have five players currently sidelined with injuries, including senior leader Miles Meynell, a two-way lineman, but White expects most of them back soon.

Friday’s game is set for 7:30 p.m., with the JVs getting the evening started.