
Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Friday night’s game at Albee Stadium.
And then there was one.
The St. Bernard’s Crusaders are the last remaining undefeated team in the H-DNL after the Fortuna Huskies suffered a 42-0 loss at Foothill on Friday night.
The Huskies, who were missing a number of key players, including injured quarterback Chad Mussey, were dominated on both sides of the ball and held to just 100 yards of offense as they dropped to 4-1 on the season.
Foothill, the No. 5 team in the Northern Section, improved to 2-2.
The Crusaders, who are 4-0, have a bye this weekend before hosting Ukiah next week.
Also in action on Friday night, the Del Norte Warriors were missing five key players because of injury, including their top three running backs, but rushed for seven touchdowns in a 48-18 win over a short-handed McKinleyville team that had just 14 players suit up for the game.
The Warriors improved to 2-2 on the season, while the Panthers dropped to 0-4.
The Eureka Loggers also remain winless after a 43-7 loss to Piner at Albee Stadium and are now 0-5 on the season.
After a bye last weekend, the Del Norte players came out ready to go against the Panthers and quickly scored four touchdowns to open up a 27-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Panthers, however, settled into the game and pulled back within two scores with a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Willy Patton.
But the home team would add three more rushing TDs to pull away again and secure the victory.
Quarterback Kyle Dixon ran in for three TDs, while senior fullback Dominique Dixon added two, including a 27-yard scoring run in the first quarter.
Fellow senior Isaac Lopez also scored on a 16-yard run after the Panthers had pulled within two scores, while sophomore Tobias Meyer got the party started with an early 26-yard TD run in his first varsity game after being called up from the JVs because of all the injuries.
Check out video highlights of Cole Zeller’s TD run for Eureka above …
“I was just proud of the way the played, being a MASH unit and being beat up,” Del Norte head coach Darren LaFazio said of his players.
The Del Norte offensive line helped pave the way for 342 yards rushing, including 114 for Dominique Dixon on 10 carries, as well as 92 by Lopez on 12 carries.
“Our offensive line is getting better every week,” LaFazio said. “And that’s good.”
Lopez, according to the head coach, has stepped up on both sides of the ball and has been impressing at running back and defensive back.
The Panthers, meanwhile, had their biggest points total of the season.
Patton completed 11 of 18 passes for 113 yards and the two TDs.
His first scoring pass was for 26 yards to Kaden Waugh, and he followed that with a 17-yard scoring pass to Tyler Marsh.
Marsh added a second TD later in the second half on an 85-yard kickoff return.
Afterwards LaFazio praised the effort of the Mack players and the work head coach Fel Barlow is doing with the program despite their struggles this season.
“I think they’ll be fine in their league,” the Del Norte coach said. “They’re playing with 13 players. They’re pretty tough. They have to be.”
The Panthers’ four losses have all come against quality teams, including University Prep and Fortuna.
Most of the injured Del Norte players are expected back in the coming weeks.
The Eureka Loggers, meanwhile, were outmatched once again against the Prospectors, who began to pull away late in the first half.
After giving up a TD on the visitors’ second possession of the game, the Loggers responded when Cole Zeller scored on a 16-yard TD run early in the second quarter.
It was all Piner after that, however, as they ran out to the comfortable win and improved to 3-1 on the season.
In JV action, meanwhile, Hoopa defeated St. Bernard’s 20-0 on Thursday night, while on Friday night Foothill beat Fortuna 24-6, Del Norte defeated McKinleyville 34-0 and Eureka had a big win over Piner.
Categories: Del Norte, Eureka, Football, Fortuna, McKinleyville
The Northern Section is strong…
Mac was playing with a lot of heart with virtually no bench. Kudos!