South Fork Football Wraps Up Season with Loss to St. Bernard’s

South Fork High School’s varsity football team dropped its final game of the season to Humboldt Del Norte League Champion St. Bernard’s last Friday afternoon in Eureka 48-7. Despite the lop-sided score capping a tough 0-10 season, the Cubs look with confidence to the future as they will bring 15 seasoned returners to the program next year as it transitions to the 8-man format.

Proud of his squad’s resilience and eager to see what the experience of this year will bring to next year’s team, head coach Andy Olsen said, “A couple months ago I wasn’t sure we’d be able to finish the season. Only 7 players played in all 10 games due to injuries, but the kids bounced back and kept showing up to compete.”

Next year Olsen will be hoping to bring an additional 8-10 players into the program in order to revive the junior varsity team. The 8-man league is expected to include at least a half dozen schools with JV programs and on the weeks when no JV opponent is available, eligible JV players will play at the varsity level.

With his Cubs toughened up by the experience of this year, Olsen noted that of the 7 opponents faced this season, 5 are going on to compete in the post-season. “We got very valuable experience against good teams, and that will show next year.”

The Cubs’ scoring drive against St. Bernard’s came in the 3rd quarter, a 7-minute march that included two 25-yard passes from Sophomore Quarterback CJ Van Meter and a 1-yard run into the endzone. Van Meter connected with junior wide receivers Ryder Pfau and Gabe Malley and then senior running back Ipo Savoie plunged over the goal line for the score. Junior Scott Coffelt made the extra point.

Playing well for the Cubs on defense was Savoie with 14 tackles and junior lineman Aaron Etherton , who also had a sack, with 13. Coffelt chipped in with 11 tackles and Malley had 10.

Van Meter was 10 for 23, for a total of 134 yards passing. Savoie led the Cubs in rushing with 44 yards on 12 carries. Pfau caught the ball 2 times for 57 yards and Malley also had 3 receptions for 48 yards.

To catch a sneak preview of next year’s look, Olsen pulled all three seniors off the field for a few plays near the end of the game, and promising freshman Elijah Roberts made his first reception of the year for 14 yards.

Season stats show Van Meter completing 59 of 141 passes for 814 yards. Leading the running game was Coffelt carrying the ball 116 times for 461 yards for an average gain of 4 yards. Malley had 73 carries for 287 yards, for an average of 3.9 yards.

Pfau led receivers with 21 catches for 334 yards, and Coffelt had 15 receptions for 256 yards. Savoie led the team defense with 120 tackles, while Coffelt had 113 and Etherton had 112.

With nearly all the team-leading stats accumulated by non-seniors, the future certainly looks bright for the Cubs.