Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.comThe race for this year’s H-DNL boys soccer championship looks like it could very well go down to the wire.

Two of the favorites faced off at Albee Stadium in Eureka on Tuesday night, with the host Loggers battling back to tie the Arcata Tigers, 1-1.

The visitors took a timely lead just seconds before half-time when Izaiah Grosveld netted off an assist from Ethan Gyenis and they led 1-0 at the break.

The home team, however, would not be denied a share of the spoils with Tomas Paoli scoring from the penalty spot in the second half.

“It was the game we expected. We expected a battle,” Eureka head coach Eddie Garcia said. “The boys came out and played well in the second half. They battled back.”

Both teams’ defenses did a good job containing the other’s offense.

“Our team stuck with our game plan, eliminated Eureka’s chances to score while generating our own, and ultimately tied on a controversial penalty call,” Arcata head coach John Davidson said. “I was very happy with the team’s efforts focus and composure under difficult circumstances.”

The Loggers also kept their composure despite giving up the lead just before halftime.

“I think we responded well after going down,” Garcia said. “We saw some good things from our team overall and we also saw some things we need to work on.”

The two H-DNL rivals will face off once again in league play at Arcata on Oct. 11.

The Fortuna Huskies, meanwhile, also won on Tuesday, defeating McKinleyville 2-1.

Josue Morales opened the scoring for the Huskies, with teammate Aristeo Herrera netting a late winner from the penalty spot to break a 1-1 tie.

The Del Norte Warriors, who are off to an impressive 2-0 start in league play, had a bye on Tuesday.

Girls

South Fork 3, Willits 3

A young Cubs team showed a lot of composure and battled back from an 0-2 halftime deficit with three second-half goals.

“We just made a lot of rookie mistakes that led to their two goals (in the first half),” said South Fork head coach Ann Constantino, who has eight freshmen on her team this year. “But we controlled the ball really well and out-shot them in the second half.”

The ever-dangerous Summer Contreras made it 2-1 with an unassisted strike five minutes into the second half, before the Wolverines stretched the gap to two again with their third goal just minutes later.

But the Cubs responded again almost immediately when Caidence Young scored a goal off an assist from Contreras.

Freshman striker Makenzie Brewer had the final say when she scored her first-ever high school goal with just 10 minutes remaining to ensure a share of the spoils.

“That was real exciting to see,” Constantino said.

Among the standouts for South Fork, junior Cloe McConnell did an outstanding job man-marking Willits’ main offensive threat all game, while freshman goalkeeper Aurora Galaz had a big day between the posts and finished with six saves.