Wildcats tame Bulldogs 39-0 in playoff

By KENT THOMPSON
Offensive explosiveness and defensive tenacity went together like a hand-in-a-glove Friday for the Humboldt Wildcat football, just as they have all season.
The result was a 39-0 mastery over the Humboldt-Dumont/CAL Bulldogs in the first round of Class 3A football playoff action in Pod C.
Will Orness let his legs and fingers do the talking as he rushed for two touchdown runs and passed for another. He finished with 76 yards on the ground and 101 yards through the air on 6-8 completions.
Lance Coon was a force getting yardage and putting the ball in the end zone as he ran for scores of 2, 11 and 14 yards. On the night he ran for 166 yards on 18 carries, an average of 9.2 per rush.
Trevor Beach accounted for nine of the Wildcat points, catching a 3-yard pass from Orness with no time remaining in the first half and adding three point-after kicks.
Humboldt outgained H-D/C 381 yards to 103, despite the Bulldogs having a six-minute advantage in time of possession.
Humboldt’s offensive dominance was exhibited by their offensive efficiency on third down, making 6 of 7 third down conversions.
The Wildcat defense was equally stellar, stuffing H-D/C with regularity. Ty Gargano led the way with eight solo stops, two assists and a sack. Carrson Bothne finished with 4.5 tackles.
The Wildcats were playing without two starters on defense as Hunter Dery and Kaleb McCullough were both sidelined with leg injuries.
“We were real proud of the way the guys played and handled some adversity with guys getting hurt. I’m so proud of how they stepped up. We’ve got a group of fighters,” Humboldt head coach Derrick Elman said after the game.
Humboldt improves to 9-1 on the season and will host 10-1 Independence in a rematch of last year’s 3A quarterfinals. The game will be Friday, Nov. 4, at Mason Maach Field at 7 p.m.

Read the full report with more action photos in the Nov. 3 Humboldt Independent.