By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
The boys who grow up in Ferndale know two things, farming and football, and not necessarily in that order.
While Ferndale is known as a tourist attraction for its Victorian village architecture, farming and dairying is the town’s life blood.
Football, however, is its passion.
That passion was certainly evident at the 43rd annual Milk Can Game on Saturday when Ferndale topped rival Fortuna 35-6.
Playing in front of an overflow crowd at Carl Carlson Field, nestled snugly between the high school and the fairgrounds racetrack in the western most town in the continental United States, the Wildcats overcame early trouble to build a 14-0 halftime lead and then conclude the game with a pair of touchdowns in the final minute of the most lopsided Ferndale win in Milk Can Game history.
The win keeps Ferndale undefeated on the season at 5-0 while Fortuna loses its first game of the season under first-year head coach Mike Benbow to fall to 3-1.
The Wildcats, who won the North Coast Section A championship last year, also remain as the favorite to earn a CIF NorCal Small Schools Bowl berth, based on the state bowl rankings by CalPreps.
The Milk Can Game annually pits the two neighboring towns of Fortuna and Ferndale in Humboldt County. Ferndale consists of 158 students while Fortuna’s enrollment is listed at 940. The contest is not a league game, but coach Kim Jorgensen says it is a special matchup each year.
“The families know each other and it’s a big topic each season,” said Jorgensen. “The big crowd we had today really adds to the spirit of the game.”
Jorgensen pointed to the Wildcats’ defensive stinginess in the first quarter as the key to Saturday’s win.
“That was the ballgame right there,” said Jorgensen, who is in his 18th year as head coach of the Wildcats. “We turned the ball over and then we had a short punt and to hold them out of the end zone is a big deal. Also getting a long run to get us out of the hole after we got the ball back was a key.”
Jorgensen, a soft-spoken, but competitive man, has seen his share of Milk Can games. As a player for coach Carlson in the early 1970s, Jorgensen quarterbacked the Wildcats during a pair of losses to the Huskies in 1971 and 1972. After assisting Carlson for many years, Jorgensen has coached the Wildcats long enough to pass the legendary Carlson as the school’s all-time winningest coach with 171 wins and just 35 losses in 18 seasons. Carlson won 160 games and eight championships during his tenure as head coach of the Wildcats while Jorgensen has won four section crowns, including one last year. Jorgensen was also named the Cal-Hi Sports Small Schools coach of the year last season.
The Wildcats have not lost to Fortuna since the 2001 season when the Huskies captured a 30-14 win. Since then, Ferndale has been nothing short of phenomenal.
Aside from winning seven straight Milk Can games, the Wildcats have posted a 73-7 overall record, 61-3 during the regular season. Ferndale has also gone 33-1 in league play during that run with two North Coast Section A championships and two other championship game appearances.
The Huskies had a golden opportunity to blow the game open early. With Friday rains creating a sloppy field, Fortuna forced a fumble on the second play of the game when Michael Bonham burst into the Ferndale backfield to force a fumble by quarterback Kevin McKay. The Huskies recovered the loose ball at the 20.
However the Wildcats, who shut out every league opponent last year during a 12-1 season, showed their defensive might on the ensuing series. Big tackles for no gain by Silas Sarvinski forced a fourth down pass that fell incomplete in the end zone.
The Wildcats were unable to move the ball and had to punt. The Huskies took control at the Ferndale 36 and once again had a short field to navigate.
Fortuna reached the 10, but bogged down. A 28-yard field goal attempt went wide left.
McKay then made up for his earlier fumble with a 43-yard run on first down to put the Wildcats on the way to their first touchdown of the game.
“I don’t know if that defensive stand in the first quarter broke Fortuna’s spirits,” said Jorgensen. “But I know it lifted ours.”
McKay came up with another big play to put the ball at the Fortuna 2. The senior quarterback hooked up with 6-foot-2 senior receiver Jesse Slade down the right sideline for a 32-yard gain. The Wildcats then hurried to the line and McKay burst into the end zone for the score.
Kyle Matyshock added the first of five extra points on the day for a 7-0 second-quarter lead.
Now it was Fortuna’s turn to have trouble hanging on to the ball. But unlike the Huskies, the Wildcats were able to take advantage.
Dustin Walters, a mountain of a player at 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, recovered a fumble by Matt Johnson to put the Wildcats in business at the Fortuna 21. Ferndale went nine yards in three downs, but Matyshock went through the middle on fourth down for a 12-yard run and the touchdown to put Ferndale up 14-0 at halftime.
The Wildcats lengthened their lead late in the third period on a big play by running back Jourdan Del Biaggio. The Wildcats’ leading rusher last season with 1,184 yards, Del Biaggio is on pace to pass that total this year after rushing for 456 yards on 55 carries through the first four games of the season.
On first down from the Ferndale 33, Del Biaggio broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage, bounced to the outside and raced down the left sideline for a 67-yard scoring run.
Del Biaggio, whose grandparents’ ranch greets visitors to Ferndale with a depiction of the Milk Can Game on the front lawn, complete with goal posts, a football field and dummies dressed as Huskies and Wildcats fighting over a milk can, rushed for 110 yards on 15 carries. He also led the defense with 11 tackles.
The Huskies put together their best drive of the game by going away from their option running attack. Johnson attempted seven passes on a 93-yard drive and had completions of 21, 9, 9 and 6 yards to Brad Cobb. TJ Rice added the final 10 yards on a run up the middle for the score with 11:22 left in the game.
In an effort to get back into the game, however, Fortuna continued to go to the air, and Ferndale was ready.
In the final quarter, Ferndale intercepted three passes, returning two of them for touchdowns in the final minute. Jimmie Griggs halted a drive midway through the period. Chuck Jones got the second pick when he caught a tipped pass and returned it 26 yards for a score with 1:03 remaining.
On the second play after the ensuing kickoff, Slade intercepted a Johnson pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown with 40 seconds to go.
The two late touchdowns allowed Ferndale to record the most lopsided Wildcat win in Milk Can Game history, replacing a 34-6 win in 2002.
Fortuna leads the overall series, which began in 1945, 25-17-1.