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The Fortuna Huskies broke open a tight game with a dominating second half in the opening round of the Division-6 North Coast Section playoffs on Friday night.

The No. 4 seeded Huskies welcomed No. 5 Petaluma to Fortuna High and overcame some early mistakes on the way to a 42-23 win.

The victory sets up a semifinal showdown next week against the winner of Saturday’s St. Bernard’s/San Rafael game, and the semifinal will take place in Humboldt County no matter who the Huskies get to play.

“I’m elated for my team. I’m a proud coach. This is Husky football,” Fortuna head coach Mike Benbow said. “To have another Monday, that’s really the goal for us every week. We’ll see how long we can do this.”

Also in action on Friday night, in eight-player Division-2 action the South Fork Cubs fell 52-22 to Cornerstone Christian in Miranda to end their season.

Friday night’s game at Husky Field was back and forth early on, with both teams scoring on their opening possession of the night, including a 24-yard TD run by Mako Limon for the home team.

Mistakes, however, began to affect the flow of the game, with five turnovers combined in the opening quarter, many of them on special teams.

The Trojans would capitalize on a special teams takeaway in Fortuna territory and scored a second TD late in the opening quarter to take a 13-6 lead .

The Huskies, however, answered early in the second quarter and pulled within one point when Will Shaw found the end zone on a QB sneak with 8:39 remaining in the half.

With under two minutes remaining in the half, the Trojans added a third touchdown to open up a 20-12 lead.

That, however, was the last time they would find the end zone, as Fortuna began to grow into the game, especially on defense.

The hosts answered before halftime when Shaw found a wide-open Tyson Evanow on a 34-yard TD pass, and a Kavi Bolden two-point conversion run left the two schools all square at 20-20 heading into the break.

The Trojans would retake the lead again early in the third quarter on a 37-yard field goal, but after that it was all Huskies, who closed out the night with 22 unanswered points.

“It was a great game, it was a battle. Our kids were dialed in,” Benbow said. “It took us a little to get rolling, but I think that was a very gutty performance by our whole team. 

“It was a big Petaluma team, very physical, and we matched their physicality.”

Especially on defense.

“Our defense stood tall in the second half,” Benbow said. “It was a total team victory. I’m very proud of my team. I’m very proud of my coaches.”

Limon scored his second TD of the night on a 36-yard run midway through the third quarter, and he added a two-point conversion run to put the Huskies up 28-23.

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It was their first lead of the night and they would not relinquish it.

Later in the quarter, Shaw added his second touchdown of the game on a 16-yard run to stretch the advantage to 34-23 going into the fourth, before Bolden closed out the scoring on a 31-yard TD run with 8:32 remaining in the game.

The matchup was a rarity between two teams that play a very similar style of football.

“They’re physical and they run the option. They’re a lot like us,” Benbow added. “This was two option teams matching up in the playoffs, and that’s a rarity these days.”

The head coach also acknowledged that there are some things his team needs to clean up if they want to continue their playoff run beyond next week.

“As a team, our defense stepped up in the second half,” he said. “On special teams we have to be better.”

With the win, which was their fifth straight and seventh in eight games, the Huskies improved to 7-4, and an 0-3 start to the year now seems like a long time ago.

“This is a team that was 0-3, and they came every day to get better,” Benbow said. “They keep performing and they keep showing up.”

Petaluma closed out the season 7-4.

Also in the Division-6 bracket on Friday night, No. 3 Bishop O’Dowd defeated Mt. Diablo 24-0 and No. 2 St. Helena defeated No. 7 Sonoma Valley 34-28.

In Division 5, No. 5 Maria Carrillo defeated No. 4 Las Lomas 35-31.

The other three Division-5 opening-round games will take place on Saturday afternoon, including No. 2 Ferndale hosting No. 7 Arroyo at 1 p.m.

In Division 7, No. 1 Middletown beat No. 8 Archie Williams 36-7, No. 2 Piedmont defeated No. 7 St. Patrick-St. Vincent 49-7, No. 3 Willits beat No. 6 Redwood Christian 27-0, and No. 5 Concord beat No. 4 Vallejo 10-0.