By Ray Hamill — Two of the biggest stories of the fall sports season are coming out of McKinleyville High, as the Panthers continue to steal the headlines this week.
And that means they feature heavily in our weekly awards, along with a Eureka High team that enjoyed a big victory over the weekend.
Our two Athletes of the Week are both from Mack.
Ingrid Monaghan gets the nod after another big week in girls golf, along with quarterback Corbin Green, who has wasted no time settling into the varsity level on the football field after only being called up from the JVs late in the offseason.
Our Team of the Week, meanwhile, goes to the Eureka High football team, which enjoyed a breakthrough win at the Redwood Bowl over the weekend, and did so in thrilling fashion.
Monaghan has begun the new season in style, taking back-to-back league wins in a five-day span.
On Wednesday of last week, she won by four strokes at Benbow, and she continued to roll in round two at Baywood on Monday, once again securing a four-stroke win to leave her alone atop the season standings.
With five rounds of league play still remaining, the championship won’t be decided for a while yet, but Monaghan’s fast start suggests she will be tough to stop this year after placing fourth a year ago.
On Monday, only one golfer — Del Norte’s Jaylee Keeling — came within 11 strokes of Monaghan.
Green, meanwhile, has been equally impressive early in the new high school football season.
The impressive sophomore was originally slated to play for the JVs this season but was called up to varsity late in the offseason when Trevor Marsh transferred out of the area.
And Green has not disappointed, playing with a composure beyond his age and leading the Panthers to their first 3-0 start since 1989.
It would be unfair to his teammates to suggest Green is the only standout on this team — the Mack defense has been outstanding through the early going — but he has played a key role in a pivotal position.
On Saturday, in a 27-0 win at Arcata, Green completed 20-of-38 passes for 322 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“What was impressive about him was his composure once again,” McKinleyville head coach Jason Benge said of the sophomore, who shook off his two interceptions and went right back to work each time. “He’s like a poised varsity player that didn’t let it affect him.”
The Eureka Loggers, meanwhile, ended an 11-game losing streak when they hosted Marshfield at the Redwood Bowl on Friday night, rallying late to force overtime and then securing the elusive victory with a big goal-line stand and a touchdown by Bryson Burns on the ensuing possession.
The Loggers won 33-27.
The victory took a lot of self-belief by the players, who had already been written off by many North Coast fans after opening the new campaign with back-to-back lopsided losses.
But head coach Sam Edmonds and his players delivered in the face of adversity and this win will give them a huge boost moving forward as they look to reestablish themselves as a force in the Pacific League.
