Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
One week after a four-point loss at St. Bernard’s, the Fortuna Huskies got their championship ambitions back on track with a dominating performance against the Eureka Loggers.
The Huskies traveled to the Redwood Bowl on Saturday night for Eureka’s Homecoming game and scored touchdowns on their first five possessions on the way to a comfortable 52-15 win.
With the victory, Fortuna improves to 2-1 in the Big 4 (3-4 overall) and remains just one win behind the conference-leading Crusaders (3-0 in the Big 4) halfway through the conference schedule.
The Loggers, meanwhile, lost a sixth straight game and dropped to 0-3 in conference and 1-6 overall.
The Huskies won with an effective ground game and some opportunistic defense that gave them good field position throughout the game.
The home team dug themselves a big hole with three early turnovers and were ultimately unable to overcome those mistakes.
Gavin Mayberry had three interceptions on the night for the visitors, including two early on that both led to scores.
The Huskies opened the scoring less than four minutes in on a six-yard Kavi Bolden TD run, and would add to their tally later in the quarter on a one-yard Mako Limon TD run, a score that was set up on Mayberry’s first interception of the night.
A second Mayberry interception just moments later — this one on a deflected pass — would set up a third opening-quarter TD for Fortuna and a second for Limon, this one from 27 yards out.
A big return by Quincy Smith on the ensuing kickoff gave the Loggers a much-needed boost, but a fumble just moments later gave the ball right back to the visitors.
That led to an 11-play, 67-yard TD drive, capped by an eight-yard Michael Shaw scoring run, and Fortuna led 30-0 early in the second quarter.
The Loggers finally got on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter on a one-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Bryson Burns to receiver Eddie Gonzalez, but the home team would add to its tally just 45 seconds later on a 35-yard TD run by quarterback Will Shaw.
Fortuna led 36-7 at halftime.
The visitors would add a safety and two pick sixes after the break, a 65-yarder by Jack Gonzalez and a 55-yarder by Cameron McClendon.
Eureka’s Jackson Herbert closed out the scoring late on a 15-yard TD run.
