Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

The Huskies look like they’re ready to defend their North Coast Section championships in boys soccer after they came storming out of the starting gates in this year’s postseason tournament on Friday night.

The No. 1 seeds in Division I scored four times in the opening half on the way to a 4-0 win over No. 9 Credo to open a doubleheader of playoff games at Fortuna High.

The Fortuna girls were also in action, defeating St. Helena 6-1.

Sergio Marquez was instrumental in the boys’ win, netting a hat trick of goals, as the Huskies remained unbeaten on the season, improving to 15-0-3.

“I thought in the first half, we had some great intensity to start the match,” Huskies head coach Daniel Holmes said. “We found some width on the outside and it opened up some things for us.”

Fortuna’s Omar Alvarado

With standout striker Fernando Atilano still nursing an injury and only “about 60 percent,” according to Holmes, Marquez continued to make his presence felt, as did Junior Cruz, who also scored in the win.

Playing their first game in nine days after receiving an opening-round bye, the Fortuna players showed no signs of being sluggish.

“I thought with the week off and trying to keep them focused, for them to come out and get four in the first half it was good mental composure,” Holmes said.

The Huskies will now play the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 5 Arcata and No. 4 Fort Bragg.

###

Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.