If the old axiom of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then consider the Fortuna Huskies one of the strongest teams anywhere, at any time.
Yes, the Huskies will play for an NCS Division IV title this Saturday night at McKinleyville, hosting upstart Hercules, who defied its seven seed to knock off two-seed Kennedy-Richmond and three-seed Harker in back-to-back weeks. But Fortuna’s path to the championship game has been anything but smooth, almost similar to taking a series of gut punches, making this one of the most gratifying seasons in coach Mike Benbow’s tenure.
“It has been a trying, emotional year, but these kids have been awesome. They have done everything I have asked of them,” Benbow said. “We are just having so much fun, none of us want it to end. This is a really neat group. I’ve been watching them play since they were eight years old.”
The championship game on Saturday night will actually be the second time that day in which the team will get together. Earlier, the entire team and coaching staff will head to a memorial for the father of senior lineman Brendon Harralson.
Harralson’s father passed away earlier in the month, after a battle with cancer. His father was brought by ambulance to the Huskies’ Senior Night game against Del Norte on November 3, and passed days later. It’s no surprise that the team will support Harralson prior to the game.
“When you come into this program, you are family,” said senior captain JB Lewis. “Obviously, we’ve faced a lot of adversity, and we do whatever it takes to be there for one another.”
Of course, the adversity for this year’s Huskies started from the beginning of the year, when senior Bailey Foley suffered a stroke, collapsing after the Cardinal Newman game in the season-opener and battling through a life-threatening condition for many weeks following the stroke.
“What happened with Bailey has had a huge impact on these guys,” Benbow commented. “They really rallied around him, created a ton of support for him, and dedicated the season to him.”
And what a season it has been. Following the loss to Cardinal Newman, who will play for the NCS Division III title against Marin Catholic on Saturday night, Fortuna won five straight games on the field in convincing fashion before picking up a forfeit win over McKinleyville. The Huskies then played tough in a 27-8 loss to Eureka, who won its first 11 games before falling in dramatic fashion to Rancho Cotate in the Division III quarterfinals.
From there, Fortuna smashed past its next four opponents, scoring a combined 211 points in the next four games, and scoring 60 or more points in lopsided playoff wins over Salesian and Moreau Catholic. The Huskies carried that momentum into a packed playoff atmosphere against St. Bernard’s, an all-Humboldt County affair. When Adam Medeiros and Shaeden Kadle combined to bring the Crusaders’ Garrison Roach down in the backfield on a two-point conversion attempt with 12 seconds remaining, the Huskies had reached the section final, creating an opportunity to claim their first crown since defeating Terra Linda for the 2A Redwood Empire title in 2000.
In that St. Bernard’s game, 6-foot-3 senior Scott Sederberg had one of the biggest offensive plays, a 58-yard touchdown reception from junior quarterback Zac Claus which gave the Huskies a 21-14 advantage in the second half. The fact Sederberg was even on the field seems amazing in itself.
After coming up to the varsity during the playoffs as a sophomore, when Fortuna dropped a heart-breaking 43-42 semifinal game to Cardinal Newman, Sederberg missed nearly all of his junior year due to injury. He then broke his collarbone against North Medford in the second game of this year, but finally came back for the Del Norte game on Senior Night, and has established a threat in the passing game since that point.
Getting another senior back on the field is what drives a program like the Fortuna one. Benbow is quick to point out that this program is always built on senior leadership. This year, that leadership can’t be exemplified any better than Lewis, a running back and defensive back who has spent four years with the Huskies’ varsity.
“He is so Husky Blue, and lives for this program,” said Benbow. “He’s done anything we have asked him to do over the last four years, and is a shining example at all times.”
Lewis came up to the varsity as a freshman in 2014, when he was asked to play quarterback for the Huskies. He moved to receiver and defensive back as a sophomore, but again took the reins of the offense as a junior, establishing himself as a team leader behind center.
His toughness was exemplified by the fact that he played all season with a broken hand, a diagnosis that was missed early in the season, but re-discovered after the year when it was apparent that the injury was not healing. It forced him to miss basketball and baseball season. Then, in his senior year, it was apparent that Claus could give Fortuna an extra dimension at quarterback, in the passing game, so Lewis moved to running back, where he and fullback Church Crenshaw have created a formidable one-two punch in the backfield. Now, he has his team on the precipice of the ultimate goal.
“This is something you dream of from the time you are little, especially growing up and playing in a small town, and especially in your senior year,” Lewis said. “This is very special for this group of guys, and I have just tried to carry on the leadership values of the guys before me.”
If Fortuna is going to claim its first title in 17 years, it will have to get past a Hercules team which has already made school history, and looks to keep setting a new standard. The Titans won their first playoff game this year, when they routed Ygnacio Valley in the first round, 55-21. And they were far from done.
Facing a Kennedy team which had beat them in each of the last two regular season match-ups, each of which had prevented Hercules from claiming a TCAL-Stone title, the Titans prevailed in overtime, 35-29, setting up a semifinal game with previously unbeaten Harker. The Hercules defense was dominant against the Eagles, limiting 1,000-yard rusher Aaron Smith to just 29 yards on 16 carries, and constantly harassing quarterback Nate Kelly. Meanwhile, the offense got rolling as well.
Two-way standout Emany Johnson, who is committed to Nevada-Reno, will likely be the top athlete on the field again this week, and he was dominant in the win over Harker. He is joined at receiver by Kris Miles and Jimmy Parker, while Tashyia Smith is a game-breaker at running back, and is a receiving threat out of the backfield. Quarterback Felix Reyes is a dual-threat who knows how to deliver the big play in the passing game. Aaron Valencerina and Darian Brooks anchor the offensive line.
Then there is that Titan defense, which boasts speed and play-making ability. Johnson is a shutdown defender in the secondary, but the front seven is equally athletic, causing match-up issues for many opponents. Defensive lineman Gage Garvey and linebacker Arthur Corbin anchor the front seven, while Johnson, Christian Posey, and Charles Modeste make it tough to move the ball through the air. Jordan Tate and John Quizon have also been stout on the defensive front.
The Titans will make the nearly 300-mile drive, one-way, to face Fortuna at McKinleyville High on Saturday night. But the five-hour drive will be well worth it if Hercules can win its first-ever section title in football, and just the second NCS title in the school’s history of all sports (the Titans won a badminton title in 2016).
And no matter who wins, someone will be advancing to the CIF bowl games for the first time ever.
