The McKinleyville Panthers capped a busy few days with a 2-1 win at Del Norte in H-DNL action on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Eureka continued its perfect start to league play with a 17-0 win over St. Bernard’s and Arcata beat South Fork 8-1.
Up in Crescent City, the Panthers broke a late tie when Becker Rine netted off an assist from Lucas Jones with under two minutes remaining.
Ayden Burtchett gave the visitors an early lead, scoring on a Jones corner kick to break the deadlock.
Jones has been teaming well in the middle of the field with Gaelen Creighton.
“Lucas Jones has been playing great,” McKinleyville head coach Brady Burtchett said. “He’s been playing real aggressive in midfield.”
It’s been a busy week for the Panthers, who played six game in eight days, including three at their own tournament last weekend.
And it’s also been a successful few days for the team, with five wins in those six games.
The Panthers won all three of their games in tournament play.
They opened with a 6-0 win over Upper Lake, before avenging an earlier loss to Eureka with a 1-0 win in the semifinals.
They closed out tournament play with a 1-o win over Fort Bragg in the championship game.
The only goal of the game was an own goal, with McKinleyville’s Jude Scher pressuring the Timberwolves defense on the play.
The Panthers also made a trip to the Bay Area this week to play non-league game against Gateway and Credo.
They lost to Gateway 4-1, before closing out the road trip with a 1-0 win over a Credo team that knocked them out of the North Coast Section playoffs a year ago.
Saturday’s game was a good test for the team.
“We had six games in eight days and we were beat up and missing some players,” Brady Burtchett said. “Del Norte’s a hard team to play.”
So too are the Panthers, who have been getting some good play up front from Rine, while Ayden Burtchett continues to make his presence felt while anchoring the back line.
The Panthers are now 2-1 in league and 9-3 overall.
Last weekend’s tournament championships as the second of the season for the team, which also took first at the Upper Lake tournament.
Eureka 17, St. Bernard’s 0
Bryce Pope, D’Alessandro Medina and Levi Grossman each scored three goals for the Loggers, who improved to 3-0 in league play.
Landon Larson added two goals, while Jerome Everta, Cooper Munson, Kyan Green, Mason Beauchamp, Grayden Larson and Jalen Foster each also found the back of the net.
“It was an interesting game for us,” Eureka head coach Tommy Learmouth said. “We struggled to settle in and match the intensity level St, Bernard’s brought.
“Once we settled in we found success passing and moving the ball, which led to scores.”
The Eureka coach was happy with a lot of what he saw from his team, which has won five of its last six games after starting the year 0-3.
“I love the energy of the team and how supportive they are of each other,” Learmouth said.
