Photo by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Fortuna boys in action at Eureka earlier this season.
By Ray Hamill — If there was an H-DNL hall of fame in soccer, Daniel Holmes would be a first ballot inductee.
On Tuesday, Holmes worked his magic once again in guiding the Fortuna Huskies to an H-DNL title in boys soccer with a 2-0 win at Arcata, and he deserves a ton of credit for achieving that.
The league championship is the 10th for Holmes during his time with the Huskies, and it would have been his 11th had there been an official league title awarded in the COVID-affected 2020 season (in the spring of 2021), during which the Huskies were 9-0.
His success includes a run of eight straight league titles from 2013 to 2021, which again would have been nine straight had there been an official league in 2020.
He also has guided the Huskies to North Coast Section championships in 2016, 2018 and 2019, making them the most successful postseason program in H-DNL boys soccer history.
Few coaches in any H-DNL sport can match the incredible success of Holmes and he has achieved it in the face of some strong competition and against some other top-notch programs such as Arcata, Del Norte, Eureka and McKinleyville.
As always, Holmes’ teams seem to improve as the season progresses every fall, a sure sign of quality coaching, and he always has his teams well prepared for every game.
This year, the Huskies dropped two of their first six league games, but the team showed a lot of resiliency and improvement and would go on to sweep all six league opponents over the second half of league play, including shutout victories over fellow contenders Del Norte and Arcata.
In fact, the Fortuna boys posted clean sheets in seven of their 12 league games and allowed more than one goal just twice in H-DNL play.
Submitted photos – The Eureka Loggers were crowned Big 4 champions on Tuesday.
Yes, it has to be said, the Huskies benefitted from a plethora of key injuries to the Tigers, who were well in control in the league standings at the halfway stage of the campaign.
But the Huskies had to overcome some injuries of their own and they were able to make the necessary adjustments.
Overall, it has been another stellar fall for Holmes and the program he has established as one of the very best in H-DNL sports over the past 15 years, during which time the Huskies have won 10 of the 14 league titles up for grabs.
And he’s not the only coach to have impressed this season.
First-year girls varsity soccer head coaches Melania Valdez of Eureka and Shawn Eckart of Del Norte also deserve a ton of credit for what they have achieved this fall.
Valdez took over a Loggers team that had lost a lot of talented players to graduation — several of whom are now playing in college — but she quickly put her stamp on the program.
And like the Fortuna boys, a very young and new-look Eureka girls team grew together as the season progressed, rallying with a tie and two victories over their final three games to over-take the Huskies in the standings and clinch the Big 4 pennant.
Eckart was arguably even more impressive, guiding the Warriors to a first-ever conference championship in the sport with just one loss in their eight Little 4 games so far.
Unlike the other two championship teams this fall, they secured the pennant outright with a game to spare, having already clinched at least a share of the title with two games to spare.
Congratulations to all three championship teams and all of their players, as well as the coaches who helped make it all possible.
H-DNL soccer appears to be in good hands.
