If history is any indication, this could be a very good year for McKinleyville football.
Over the weekend, the Panthers improved to 3-0 with a dominating shutout victory over rival and neighbor Arcata.
Head coach Jason Benge and his players made the short trip to the Redwood Bowl and came away with a 27-0 win.
The Panthers defense has been very impressive through the early going and has given up just two touchdowns in its first three games.
Even more impressive, this is the program’s first 3-0 start to a season in 37 years.
The last time, Mack won its first three games was back in 1989 when Panthers legend Dave Lonn was in charge of the team.
They went on to win a Class A North Coast Section championship as one of just three schools to be crowned section champs that season.
Benge and his players will be hoping to match that this season, although there’s still a long way to go and some tough upcoming matchups on tap, including a showdown against a very good Fortuna team next week.
Thus far, however, the Panthers have taken care of business and appear to be growing in stature each week.
The weekend win sees them move up 14 spots to No. 42 in this week’s NCS rankings.
The Panthers are also now the No. 4 ranked team in NCS Division 6, just one spot behind the Huskies.
The Panthers have a bye this weekend.
