Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – St. Bernard’s Talimaivao Fonoti (3) celebrates a two-point conversion run during Saturday’s game.

The Ferndale Wildcats gave the visiting Crusaders all they could handle early on in an entertaining football game in the Cream City on Saturday, before St. Bernard’s eventually pulled away for a 47-27 win.

Trailing 21-14 early in the second quarter, the high-flying Crusaders offense put up 33 unanswered points to take control of the game and keep their unbeaten start to the season in tact.

Heading into next week’s bye, the 5-0 Crusaders are the last remaining undefeated team on the North Coast.

Against one of their biggest rivals, however, this was a game that appeared as if it could go either way early on, as the Wildcats carried plenty of momentum from their big Milk Can win a week ago.

Senior running back Landon Gomes, in particular, caused the visitors plenty of problems, putting up some big numbers and a pair of touchdowns on the Cat’s opening three drives.

Ferndale’s Landon Gomes (9) broke free for numerous big gains during Saturday’s game.

After an early interception by Ferndale’s Jenner Christiansen on a tipped pass from SB quarterback Will Omey, the two teams combined to score touchdowns on six straight possessions.

Omey was his usual brilliant self, finding the end zone on four TD runs, as well as throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to receiver Justin Hagler.

Hagler continues to be a beast on both sides of the ball for the Crusaders and stepped up again against the Wildcats, particularly in the absence of Lane Thrap, who left the game in the very early stages with what St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said was an upper body injury.

“Justin Hagler just kind of took over and led us all over the field,” Tomlin said of the senior receiver/linebacker.

In addition to his touchdown, Hagler also pulled in an interception in the final minute of the first half to set up a 31-yard field goal by Guillermo Perez-Estrada to give the Crusaders some momentum heading into the break, as well as a 33-21 lead.

St. Bernard’s Justin Hagler breaks free for a 50-yard TD run.

Jacob Smallwood also had a big interception for the visitors early in the second half, after the Cats had marched all the way to the SB 14-yard line.

“Those two interceptions were game-changers,” Tomlin said. “And really turned the game around.”

Gomes was outstanding for the Wildcats, rushing for several big gains in the opening half.

So too was senior Tristen Martin, who had a breakthrough game at tight end and scored on a 13-yard pass from Christiansen early in the second quarter to give Ferndale a 21-14 lead.

Tomlin said the early problems for the Crusaders were down to coaching miscues.

“I thought the kids played great,” the head coach said. “I thought I didn’t coach very well early in the game. I didn’t make the proper adjustments to what Ferndale was doing. But we got that fixed in the second quarter.”

St. Bernard’s Will Omey scores one of his four TDs on Saturday.

The Crusaders weren’t the only ones missing a key player, with influential Ferndale senior lineman Orion Benton missing out due to sickness.

The return of junior guard Caden Rocha eased that loss.

“There’s definitely a lot of positives we’ll be able to take from this,” said Ferndale head coach Clint McClurg, whose team has been far more competitive this season than it was a year ago, and appears to be a legitimate Little 4 contender. “I still think our ability to run the ball is strong, and we have a very strong line.

“St. Bernard’s is a quality football team, and they made some adjustments and made it difficult for us to run the football.”
According to the coach, Gomes’ influence in Saturday’s game went beyond his play.

“Landon Gomes played extremely well,” McClurg said. “And it was really nice to see him as a leader when things didn’t go well, and see him maintain his composure.”

Martin too was singled after after his big performance both at tight end and defensive end.

“Tristen Martin is something we’ve been looking for in our offensive production,” the Ferndale coach said. “So that was really, really exciting for us moving forward to get him involved in our passing game.”

Talimaivao Fonoti also continues to grow in stature for St. Bernard’s, and is playing an ever-more pivotal role on both sides of the ball.

“There were a lot of things that impressed me, but I thought Talimaivao Fonoti brought a lot of toughness to us all over the field,” Tomlin said of the fullback/defensive end who scored the Crusaders sixth touchdown of the day late in the game.

Eli Moon also continues to impress for the Crusaders along the D-line.

“I thought our defensive line as a whole had their best game,” Tomlin said.

Ferndale’s Javier Lopez closed out the scoring, catching a touchdown on a tipped pass on the final play of the game.

The Cats are now 2-2 and will open the Little 4 at Arcata next weekend.

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