By Ray Hamill — Two local football teams that enjoyed very different wins last weekend feature in our weekly awards.
Last Thursday night, the South Fork Cubs got their season started with a dominating shutout victory at home against California School for the Deaf.
The Cubs came flying out of the starting gates and won 54-0, with big performances from throughout the roster in all facets of the game.
And that makes them our choice for Team of the Week.
Head coach Karl Terrell is back on the sidelines this fall and his players have responded with a good preseason and strong start to the new campaign.
Terrell’s roster features 10 combined freshmen and sophomores, but with a core group of experienced seniors and juniors leading the way they hit the ground running.
“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.”
There were several standouts in the opener, no one more so than junior quarterback Kael Puno, who had a big night on both sides of the ball.
Puno, who also plays safety, 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.
While there is still a long way to go this season, including a tough matchup this week against a Hayfork team that has won 39 consecutive games dating back to 2022, this was nonetheless an impressive start for South Fork, which looks set for a big campaign.
Our athlete of the week, meanwhile, also looks set for a big fall season.
The St. Bernard’s Crusaders opened the new football season over the weekend, hosting St. Vincent de Paul in a matchup of perennial North Coast Section playoff contenders.
And the home team pulled out a thrilling come-from-behind 21-20 win, although it was far from pretty with nine turnovers combined by the two teams, including six by SB.
But the Crusaders also displayed a lot of character in getting the win, overcoming the adversity.
No one epitomized that more than senior linebacker Robert Sirrine, who is our choice for Athlete of the Week.
“Robert Sirrine was the reason we won that game,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said of the senior linebacker. “It seemed like every time we needed a stop he was the guy who made the play. He played above and beyond.”
Sirrine finished with a game-high 14 tackles, including 12 solo, as well as four tackles for a loss, a sack and a forced fumble.
Not bad for a first game of the year.
