By Ray Hamill — The Fortuna Huskies have been crowned H-DNL champs in boys soccer after a 2-0 win at Arcata on an exciting final day of action on Tuesday.
Three teams came into the day with a chance at winning the title, but it was the Huskies who took care of business against fellow contenders Arcata to seal the deal.
The league championship is the first for the program in three years after seeing Arcata and Del Norte take home the pennant over the past two falls.
The Huskies needed a result on the final day because Del Norte also won their league finale, beating South Fork 3-0 to keep pressure on the frontrunners.
“It was nice to get it again, and to win it outright,” said longtime head coach Daniel Holmes, who now has won 10 league titles with the Huskies. “But it’s really the boys. The boys bought in and kept working.”
Check out some of the postgame celebrations above …
The Huskies closed out league play with a record of 10-2 (20 points), followed by Del Norte, which finished 8-2-2.
After losing two of their opening six league games, the Huskies stepped up over the second half of league play and won their final six games to secure the title.
In Holmes’ own words, they had to overcome some bumps along the road, but this is a team that began to peak as the season progressed and saved its best soccer for the second half of league play, while stepping up to the challenge.
“I think overall, we’ve been slowly building,” Holmes said. “The players continue to keep working and I’m proud of them for that.
“There’s definitely been some bumps on the road, but they keep coming back and working.”
Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fortuna team captain Leo Vargas reacts during Tuesday’s game.
The Tigers gave them all they could handle on Tuesday and there was little between the two teams.
Jesus Herrera broke the deadlock in the opening half and the Huskies carried a one-goal advantage into the break.
Kaden Lodes would add a second goal early in the second half to give the Huskies a nice cushion, but the Tigers battled relentlessly for the remainder of the game and gave the Fortuna defense all it could handle.
A determined Fortuna team, however, would hold on.
“I think we came out with intensity today,” said Holmes. “We’ve been struggling with injuries and we had to make adjustments. They’re super talented, Arcata, and we tried to key in on some of their strengths, and the boys bought in.”
Holmes was happy with the overall team performance.
“Just the overall team effort was a good one,” he added. “We got everybody in.”
The outright championship guarantees the Huskies the league’s automatic berth and a home playoff game for the North Coast Sections, which get under way next week.
The NCS brackets and seeds will be announced this weekend.
