File photo – Eureka’s Drew Jensen

The Eureka Loggers have been the most exciting team on the North Coast this season, with each of their games going down to the wire. 

Unfortunately they continue to lose these games, dropping another close one at Foothill on Friday night by a score of 14-10 and falling to 0-3.

After losing their opener to Placer by two late TDs, the Loggers have now dropped back-to-back games by seven points combined.

“We’re one play away every game,” head coach Jason White said.

Defensively on Friday night, the Loggers were in their coach’s words “outstanding.”

“We gave up one long pass play at the beginning of the game and after that they played great,” White said of his defense.

The home team’s second TD came after a botched Eureka punt gave the Cougars possession at the Eureka 15-yard line and they were able to punch it in for the game-winning score.

The Loggers scored on a 65-yard TD run by quarterback Trevor Bell and added a 22-yard Mengka Vang field goal.

Mental mistakes continued to be a problem on the offensive side of the ball.

“Offensively we had too many penalties,” White said. “We would move the ball and get a penalty and that would really ruin our rhythm. It’s funny, we don’t do that in practice, but we’re doing it in games. We’ve got to find a way to fix that.”

There were plenty of bright spots in the loss, most notably the play of freshman Magnum West, who had a big game at tight end and defensive end.

West is the first freshman to make the team in White’s seven years in charge and is having an immediate impact.

Holden Davis also had a big game in his first varsity start, with some big plays at fullback and linebacker.

“We’re young, but we’ve got great heart, we always battle,” White said. “We’ve just got to eliminate the mistakes. Our inexperience is showing right now.”

The Eureka JVs also fell to 0-3 with a 21-6 loss to Foothill.