Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Gavyn Haberman in action for the Loggers on Saturday.
By Ray Hamill — The Eureka Loggers will try to bounce back from a disappointing season opener in football when they travel to Sebastopol to play Analy on Friday night.
A young Loggers team had a hard time executing their offense in a 19-8 loss against Arcata last week, piecing together just one short scoring drive all night.
Eureka has just six returning players on this year’s roster, including one who was a freshman in 2022.
“Really, we showed our youth and inexperience,” head coach Mike Marcelli said. “I was happy with how hard they played. They gave everything they had. It’s just they didn’t execute well.”
The performance, however, wasn’t without its bright spots, including the play of a couple of senior leaders and a junior who announced this presence in a big way.
Elijah Griffin and Toa Ou both played well and tried to set a physical tone for the team, including a short touchdown run from the latter.
That lone offensive score was set up by a long punt return by junior Gavyn Haberman, who had a big night on both sides of the ball and was arguably the Loggers’ player of the game.
“Really Gavyn Haberman was the biggest bright spot,” Marcelli said of the running back/cornerback. “He made seem really good runs and he made some good plays defensively.
“I look for him to get better and better as the year goes on.”
Defensively, Manny Fletes also had a good game at free safety.
“He made some plays and I was real proud of him as well,” the head coach said.
Analy will present its own set of problems and the Tigers feature a high-octane passing offense.
A pair of QBs combined for 383 yards passing, three TDs and one interception in a 26-7 win over Lincoln out of San Francisco in their opener.
“They are extremely fast,” Marcelli said. “The first thing that jumped out at me was their speed. And they throw the ball deep. They’re a big-play team.”
The game plan for the Loggers will be to run the ball as effectively as possible and keep the home team’s offense off the field.
Friday’s game is between two Division-5 teams and could have North Coast Section playoff implications down the road, adding to the importance.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Eureka and Analy JVs will also be in action on Friday night.
The Logger JVs are 1-0 after winning their season opener against Arcata last week.
