Beacon Correspondent
The weather is a changing with the seasons and with it goes the fall sports scene, as various sports are in the process of wraping up their schedules. Local youth football teams will be playing the last of the regular season schedule this Sunday and both the Ferndale Mustangs and the Fortuna Huskies will be at home. Excitement is building on both sides of the river as there are three undefeated teams still out there and the postseason is just around the corner.
Ferndale and Fortuna both tout unbeaten Single A teams that somehow avoided each other during the course of the regular season. Last Sunday the Mustangs put up an impressive 24-6 win on the road versus the Arcata Tigers. Ferndale has a bevy of speedy runningbacks that have paced the Mustangs to their 7-0 record. This Sunday the Mustangs host the Eureka Loggers with postseason seedings at stake.
The Fortuna Single A Blue Huskies have also rolled through their schedule unbeaten and will entertain Del Norte Sunday, in the regular season finale. Last weekend the Huskies faced off against yet another unbeated team, the Mckinleyville Panthers White. From the opening minutes the Huskies gained an advantage that carried
In their first possession of the game the Huskies covered 60 yards in three plays and scored on Noah O'Kelly's 48 yard run. The Panthers next possession ended with two sacks by O'Kelly, the 2nd resulted in a fumble that Tanner Simmons recovered. 35 yards later the Huskies scored again on a pass play, quarterback Dylan Kepon to Simmons for a 7 yard touchdown. The Huskies had the Panthers reeling.
The second half opened with another drive by the Huskies on their first possession of the half.
That drive ended with Tristen Bryant's touchdown run of 11 yards. The defense stood tall and recorded two second half turnovers. Nikolas Lourenzo added an interception and O'Kelly recovered a fumble. Dante' Viggers provided some offense with his hard running and Bryant scored again in the 4th quarter on a 10 yard pass reception. Quarterback Kepon hooked up with O'Kelly with a pass on the numbers for a conversion and the scoring was complete at 25-0.
At the Double AA level the Huskies have two strong teams. The Huskies Blue team remained undefeated after this weekends 20-6 win over the Mckinleyville White. The Huskies were actually behind in the first quarter 6-0, but weathered a good start by the Panthers to eventually take control of the game in the final three periods.
The Double AA White Huskies have only one loss on the season and also looked good on Sunday. Their 20-0 win over the Eureka Lumberjacks put them in good standing as the season winds down.
The Ferndale Mustangs AA are not too far behind in the standings with two losses and won out over the Arcata Tigers, 24-0 on the road. The Mustangs Triple A on the other hand are reeling after sustaining two tough losses in the past two weekends after going the first five weeks of the season unbeaten.
After losing in overtime to the Eureka Foresters the week before, the Mustangs came up short in Arcata, losing to the Tigers, 12-6. The Triple A Mustangs have a bye this Sunday to try and regroup for the postseason. The Single A and Double A teams will be at home Sunday, games starting at 10 p.m.
The Single A White Huskies lost a heartbreaker on Sunday as they sought their first win of the season. They lost in overtime 7-0, after playing the Lumberjacks to a 0-0 draw after regulation. The Huskies have a very young team with alot of 7 year olds, so look out for the Single A White Huskies next season. Fortuna's Triple A team rebounded Sunday ending a losing streak with an impressive 30-0 win over the Eureka Lumberjacks.
The coaching staff made wholesale changes and the team responded with their best performance since their week one win. The Eel River Youth Football Huskies close out the regular season this Sunday at home with games starting every two hours beginning at 8 p.m.
ERV President Tami Erickson is in her 3rd and last year at the helm of the Huskies program. The association has had a huge turnout this year as there are 115 football players in uniform and 65 cheerleaders on the sidelines. Erickson has a big work load being the head of the program as her final year of involvement winds down.
"I want to thank all the volunteers, we would have no sucess without them. I've had a good group to work with this year, I will especially miss the kids." said Erickson last Sunday, as she contemplated her last season with the youth program.
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