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Kaden Lodes netted a dramatic late game-winner on Wednesday afternoon, as the Fortuna Huskies maintained their unbeaten start to the season in boys soccer.

Lodes found the back of the net less than three minutes from time to break a 2-2 tie with Del Norte in both teams’ second league game.

In other league games on Wednesday, Arcata kept pace with the Huskies atop the standings with a 14-0 win over St. Bernard’s and a young McKinleyville team bounced back from a disappointing league opener last week with a 2-1 win over Eureka.

The Huskies, who improved to 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the H-DNL, had the final say in a matchup between the last two league champions.

They started the better of the two sides and opened up a two-goal lead, but the Warriors would come storming back and looked like they had earned a share of the spoils going into the final few minutes.

“It was definitely a game of two halves,” Fortuna head coach Daniel Holmes said. “We played a great first half, and Del Norte played a great second half.”

Brandon Cruz and Danny Cortes both scored for the Huskies, before goals by Del Norte’s Alexis Ortiz and Giovanni Minor pulled the visitors level.

With the loss, the Warriors dropped to 1-1 in league play.

The influential Cortes continued his recent good form with another strong game in midfield for the defending league champs, while up front the opportunistic Lodes caused problems for the Del Norte defense.

Cruz also had a good game in defense, as did Joe Eberle and Humberto Florez Lopez, who “kept the back line together and made timely tackles,” according to Holmes.

“We’re coming together,” said Holmes, who added “I think Del Norte played a great game also.”

The McKinleyville Panthers also seem to be coming together at a good time.

The Mack boys posted their third win in four games on Wednesday as a new-look team this year begins to find its feet.

“I thought we played well as a team,” first-year head coach Brady Burtchett said. “It was a good rebound from probably our worst game of the year against Arcata (last week).”

It was also a good response from an early setback after the Loggers opened the scoring.

The Panthers netted twice on penalty kicks to come from behind, one each by junior Gaelen Creighton and sophomore Becker Rine.

Rine had a good game in midfield, as did August Gonzalez, while Lucas Jones caused some problems up front for the Eureka defense.

But it was the McKinleyville defense that helped set the tone and limited the opportunities for the Eureka attack.

And it was victory that should give a young McKinleyville roster some confidence and momentum moving forward.

“Hopefully we can build on this,” Burtchett said.

The loss was a particularly disappointing one for a Eureka team that dropped to 0-2 in league play.

“Tonight we looked fractured,” head coach Tommy Learmouth said. “Mack played like a team that wanted to win and we did not.”

Mansoor Khan scored the only goal of the game for the Loggers, with Cooper Munson assisting on the strike.

Things won’t get any easier for the Loggers with a matchup against a high-flying Arcata team in their next game next week.