Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Friday night’s game at Fortuna.
By Ray Hamill — The No. 1 team in the Humboldt Sports Preseason Power Rankings lived up to the billing on a record-setting night at Husky Field on Friday.
The Fortuna Huskies got the new season off to an impressive start with a 22-0 shutout victory over the Del Norte Warriors, as longtime head coach Mike Benbow set a new program record with his 122nd career victory.
But it was the way his players responded to some key injuries that impressed Benbow the most, as the Huskies wore down a physical Warriors team that ultimately made way too many mistakes.
“It was a dog fight, but it was good,” Benbow said. “We loved it.”
University of Cal commit Jake Houseworth missed the entire second half for the home team after picking up a knock.
However, in his absence his teammates showed the Huskies are certainly no one-man team, with several players picking up the slack, most notably senior quarterback Chandler Crenshaw and the dynamic junior running back tandem of Mako Limon and Kavi Bolden.
“I’ll tell you what, our kids had a lot of adversity tonight and I am really proud of how they responded,” Benbow said. “A lot of kids got an opportunity tonight and they didn’t disappoint.”
The shutout loss for the Warriors was their first since falling 36-0 to San Marin in the 2021 playoffs and their first in the regular season since a 32-0 loss to Mazama in September of 2017.
But the game was close for much of the night, with the Del Norte defense keeping the Warriors in contention.
It was a one-score game until late in the third quarter, but the home team would take full advantage of the visitors’ miscues.
“We had way too many personal fouls (four),” Del Norte head coach Darren LaFazio said. “And we blew easy assignments on defense, stuff we should never do. And (the Huskies) played good. They’re a good football team.”
The Huskies opened the scoring on their second possession of the night, with the impressive Crenshaw connecting with Limon on an 18-yard play action TD pass on a fourth-and-seven play midway through the first quarter.
Check out Mako Limon’s first TD of the night on a pass from senior QB Chandler Crenshaw below …
That was the only score of the opening half, thanks in large part to good defense by both teams.
The Huskies’ unit held the Warriors offense to just one first down on their first four possessions and the home team led 7-0 at the break.
“Our defense played really well,” Benbow said.
After forcing a quick three-and-out by the Warriors on the first drive of the third quarter, the Huskies offense then ate up almost eight minutes on their first possession of the half.
The Del Norte defense almost made an inspirational goal-line stand at the one-yard line, but after a holding penalty set up a second-and-goal at the 11-yard line, Crenshaw threw his second TD pass of the night, this one to Tim Still.
“I thought Chandler Crenshaw played a great game at quarterback,” Benbow said of the senior, who completed 6-of-10 passes for 68 yards and the two TDs in the win. “Once Jake went down, he really took over. I was really proud of his effort.”
Limon would close out the scoring in the fourth quarter with his second TD of the night on a 24-yard option run.
“Both of our junior running backs played really, really well tonight,” Benbow added.
There were also several standouts for the Huskies on defense, most notably Still, who looks set for a big season in 2024 as a defensive back and on offense.
The Warriors offense began to settle into the game late in the first half and put together an impressive drive to close out the second quarter before running out of time.
They continued to move the ball well in the third quarter, but the mistakes (and turnovers) began to pile up as the game began to get away from them.
“We’ve got to clean up a lot of stuff,” LaFazio added. “I think we’re physical enough, we just made mental mistakes.
“But we can clean it up. We’ll be alright.”
Check out Tim Still’s TD catch from Chandler Crenshaw below …
The loss was the Warriors’ second straight against the Huskies, who ended a 15-game Del Norte conference winning streak on the final night of the regular season a year ago.
The record-setting win for Benbow was another reason for the home team to celebrate, as he continues to establish himself as one of the best high school coaches in the H-DNL, in any sport.
His 122 wins are now one more than Dick Cahill, whom Benbow played for during his time as a Fortuna High player and someone he was very close with before his passing a couple of years ago.
“It was very bittersweet,” Benbow said. “Coach Cahill was the greatest man in my life and to share that with him and to be a part of that is special.”
The Huskies also won the JV matchup, 19-0.
Next up, the Huskies will travel to play Arcata next weekend, while the Warriors will try to get their first win when they host Ashland in their home opener.
