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The Eureka Loggers are quietly building some momentum ahead of conference play.
On Friday night, they traveled to Biggs High and came away with a 43-0 win, their second victory in four games after previously losing 15 straight.
Eureka has had to endure a tough early-season schedule but things should get a little easier from here on out and the Loggers are poised to finish the season strong and challenge for a Big 4 title.
“We took our lickings and we’ve had a tough schedule, and now for the last five games teams are sleeping on us,” head coach Sam Edmonds said. “Teams are underestimating what we can do.”
That might not be the case any more after Friday night.
Several players impressed in the win, none more so than Gavyn Haberman, who kicked started the big performance with a pair of early touchdowns on defense and special teams.
The senior standout opened the scoring on a pick six midway through the first quarter and the Loggers never looked back.
After holding the Biggs’ offense on the ensuing possession, Haberman returned a punt to the end zone for his second TD of the night.
“He went all out,” Edmonds said.
Quarterback Kyle Johnston also scored a rushing touchdown in the win, as did junior Alex Her and senior Cole Zeller.
Junior Tau Ou also scored a rushing TD and added a 35-yard field goal to round out the scoring.
Overall, it was a good response to last week’s defeat at Windsor, one of the top teams in the entire North Coast Section.
“We had a good week of practice,” Edmonds said. “Against Windsor we saw we could compete, and they were hungry. They finally realized that in the last five games everybody’s beatable.”
Several Eureka players also stepped up on defense, including sophomore Archer Francis, who was thrown into a starting role at middle linebacker after a pair of players left the team this past week.
“He did a great job,” Edmonds said.
Senior Michael Leen also impressed alongside Francis at linebacker, while senior Chayton Rose caused havoc in the Biggs backfield and finished with three sacks.
“Our defense was lights out tonight,” Edmonds added.
On the offensive side of the ball, junior tight end Cole Harbin had a big game, while junior receiver Eddie Gonzalez continued to impress and finished with around 75 yards receiving, according to his coach.
“I thought this was our second complete game,” Edmonds said. “We played together as a team. We played with reckless abandon all game and it paid off.”
This was Eureka’s fifth straight road game.
The Loggers improved to 2-4.
Biggs, who played St. Bernard’s close in a 20-14 loss earlier in the season, came into the game with a record of 4-1.
Next up, the Loggers will play a non-conference game at Del Norte before kicking off the Big 4 in two weeks.
