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The big play ability of Lamar Ellis and the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons proved too big a hurdle to overcome for the Fortuna Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies traveled to Hayward to play the Dragons for the North Coast Section Division-6 championship, but the game got away from them early in the second half and they would fall 59-21 to end their season.
The Dragons will now advance to next week’s state playoffs.
Before the game, Fortuna head coach Mike Benbow spoke of the importance of not giving up the big plays, but that’s exactly what happened as the Huskies defense could not contain the playmaking skills of Ellis and his Dragons teammates.
Ellis scored five of his teams eight touchdowns in the win, as the No. 3 seeds put the game out of reach with four third-quarter TDs.
The Dragons offense set the tone on their opening possession and never relented.
A 50-yard pass completion on the very first play from scrimmage set up Ellis’ first score of the afternoon just two plays later.
The junior running back added a 50-yard run on Bishop O’Dowd’s second possession to set up his second score of the day, and he would add a third touchdown on the Dragons’ next possession.
The Huskies, to their credit, remained in the game until the third quarter, thanks to some big plays of their own, most notably a 90-yard kickoff return for a TD by Michael Shaw to start the second half.
That pulled the Huskies within 10 points (31-21) and gave them some much-needed momentum, but the Dragons would answer almost immediately, when Ellis found the end zone for a fourth time less than a minute later to reestablish a three-score advantage.
Early on, it looked as if the game might be a shootout.
Trailing 7-0 on their first possession of the game, the Fortuna offense quickly went to work, with junior quarterback Will Shaw completing a screen pass to senior running back Kavi Bolden, who took it 30 yards to the end zone to tie the game.
The Huskies would score again with 3:42 remaining in the half on Will Shaw’s second TD pass of the day.
On a fourth-and-four deep in Fortuna territory, the junior QB connected with Michael Shaw on a short pass, and the receiver broke free down the sideline for a 63-yard score.
That made the score 24-14, and with the Fortuna defense growing into the game after allowing touchdowns on Bishop O’Dowd’s first three possessions, it appeared as if the momentum was beginning to switch sides.
The Huskies made another big stop on Bishop O’Dowd’s ensuing possession, but junior Oc Lehner would intercept a Will Shaw pass just moments later to give the Dragons possession inside the Fortuna 5 and they would punch it in on a short Bryan Edwards run to put them up 31-14 at halftime.
It was a major momentum swing.
Michael Shaw’s big kickoff return to start the second half seemed to grab the momentum back, but it was short-lived and the Huskies would not score again.
The Dragons then went on a 28-0 run to close out the third quarter and the game went to a running clock in the fourth.
Despite the loss and the disappointment of falling just short in their bid for a first NCS title in seven years, it was nonetheless a memorable season for the Huskies.
After struggling early in the campaign and losing their first three games, the Huskies began to find their groove and would win six of their next seven games to close out the regular season and claim a share of the Big 4 championship with St. Bernard’s.
They carried that impressive form into the NCS playoffs, opening with a 42-23 win over Petaluma two weeks ago and following that with a memorable 35-15 win at St. Bernard’s last week.
The Huskies closed out the season 8-5, while Bishop O’Dowd improved to 9-4.
