The South Fork Cubs enjoyed a dominating start to the new football season late last week, but they’ll face a much tougher challenge in game two this week.
With longtime head coach Karl Terrell back on the sideline this fall, the Cubs got their new campaign off to a flying start in a 54-0 win over California School for the Deaf in Miranda on Thursday.
This Friday night, they’ll head to Hayfork to face a Timberjacks team that has won 39 straight games and has not lost since the fall of 2022.
The Cubs will carry plenty of momentum into the big showdown after an impressive start to the season.
“We started off like we knew what we were doing,” Terrell said. “We just took the game at the line of scrimmage and dominated on both sides of the ball. I was happy with everybody’s play.”
Kael Puno led the way on both sides of the ball.
The junior quarterback completed 5-of-6 passes for 87 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions, while also rushing for 83 yards and three more TDs on 15 carries.
Puno also led the Cubs on defense and had eight tackles, including five solo.
Martin Navarrete also impressed running the ball and added 77 yards and two TDs on 11 carries for an average of 7.7 a carry.
Toby Tennessee also had 65 yards rushing and a TD on three carries.
Timber Bowman led the South Fork receivers with 50 yards and a TD on a pair of catches, while sophomore Kaidyn Hendershot had two catches for 31 yards, as well as 48 yards rushing on seven carries..
Terrell went deep to his bench by the middle of the third quarter.
Lukas Edwards also impressed on defense for the home team and finished with seven tackles, while Navarrete, Koda Walls and Brian Ayala each added five tackles.
Penalties were a concern for the Cubs who were called for around 100 yards, according to the coach, but that’s not unusual for a first game and it wasn’t all bad news.
“That just tells me the kids were giving effort,” the coach said. “The effort was there.”
They’ll try to keep their fast start to the season going against Hayfork this week.
“I was just happy with the overall performance,” Terrell added. “My kids have a great attitude and they’re working hard.”
