The bottom line is this story is a lot more than just about a coaching award, it is about the twists and turns, and trial and tribulations of life.

Unlike legendary former De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur, chances are they’ll never be a movie made about the coach of a team with a veer offense that won a CIF state football title this past season. However, after what Fortuna coach Mike Benbow, his Huskies team, and the entire Humboldt County community have been through, there’s more than enough material for a Shakespearean theatrical production.

The old clichés about overcoming obstacles and adversity could not be more appropriate when it comes to Benbow and the Huskies football program. The result, is after all has been said and done, not only is the 1988 graduate of Fortuna a sentimental and storybook selection, Benbow is pretty much a clear-cut choice as the Prep2Prep North Coast Section Coach of the Year.

“It was the worst of times and then it was the best of times,” Benbow reflected with respect to the season.

The best of times was when Fortuna went to Orange County and beat Katella-Anaheim 54-33 to bring the CIF Division 5-A Bowl Game title and a 14-2 record back home Behind the Redwood Curtain, but even that had a damper on it because one of their brothers wasn’t with them due to the worst of times.

Near the end of the Huskies’ season opening loss in Santa Rosa at Cardinal Newman, senior running back Bailey Foley came off the field in obvious distress and eventually was diagnosed with a stroke once they got him to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Foley recently returned home after being moved around for treatment, including a stay at Children’s Hospital in Oakland where the team visited him on their way to Orange County. Benbow and others visited Foley during his hospitalizations, but on their way to the greatest victory in school history was the first and only time they were able to do it all together.

“I stayed with Bailey until his mom got there on Saturday after the game Friday night,” said Benbow as he began to sound emotional. “Driving home from Santa Rosa I had no idea what to do. I was thinking, ‘Do I ever want to coach again?’”

Once he made it the 200 miles back home, he heard the team was meeting for lunch at the home of team leader and senior star JB Lewis. The parents of Lewis are big boosters of the program.

“At that point I asked the team ‘What do you want to do?’” Benbow said. “They were adamant about what they wanted to do. They wanted to play every play for Bailey.”

Besides playing football there were car washes, bake sales, tamale sales and selling T-shirts to raise money for Foley.

“We tried to help in any way,” Benbow remarked. “He was one of our guys, and he always went 100 percent.”

And what did Benbow do himself? He held everything together and tried to use the practice field as a place for the boys to get away from all the hullaballoo.

“Practice was a sanctuary from the stress,” Benbow said. “It was a bunch of brothers going out and enjoying the sport.”

Something the 10-year head coach that’s been coaching 24 years in all at Fortuna said, and did, must have worked. They walloped arch rival Ferndale in the Milk Can Bowl, but lost to a Division III Eureka team that came close to beating D3 powerhouse Rancho Cotate in the playoffs.

Fortuna finished behind Eureka at 5-1 in the Humboldt-Del Norte – Big 5 final standings, but the NCS playoffs were another story. With Cardinal Newman being moved up to Division III, the Division IV field was ripe for picking by a newcomer, except despite only two losses to solid D3 teams, the Huskies only received the No. 4 seed.

They destroyed No. 13 seed Salesian 61-0, and it was much the same in a 60-6 demolition of No. 5 seed Moreau Catholic in the quarterfinals. Next up was top seed and HDNL – Little 3 champion and neighboring 10-0 St. Bernard’s, a team that itself had won a CIF Division 5-A title in 2015.

In a see-saw game in front of a raucous packed house that was tied 14-14 at the half and in which the Huskies trailed 27-21 after three quarters, Fortuna prevailed 34-33 in the end and was two games away from a state championship.

“The whole county came out,” Benbow said. “It was back and forth and we got down, but in the end it went our way. It was one of the best high school games I’ve ever been part of.”

The title game against No. 7 seed Hercules delighted the home fans as their boys won in a 44-0 rout.

In the Northern Regional CIF 5-A Bowl Game against Sac-Joaquin Section Division V champion Bear River, the Huskies fell behind 6-0 after one quarter but scored 27 unanswered points to seal the deal in a 34-20 victory.

Just like St. Bernard’s had to do in 2015 in traveling to Orange County, the Huskies had a near 700-mile ride to Anaheim to face Katella at Glover Stadium for the 5-A title. As it has done all season the team ran onto the field holding Foley’s jersey and then placed it along with his helmet behind their sideline.

The state championship brought additional adversity when junior quarterback Zac Claus got banged up in the first half and Benbow had to make a switch with the Huskies clinging to a 28-27 halftime lead.

“Our quarterback got hurt and had the pads off and that’s when we turned to JB (Lewis),” Benbow said.

The 5-11, 185-pound Lewis was the Huskies quarterback as a junior, but even though Benbow runs the veer, the 6-1, 205-pound Claus had the stronger arm so Lewis became the Swiss Army knife.

Lewis came on against Katella to start the third quarter and ran the veer, or ‘Ka-Chunk offense’ the local Eureka Times-Standard likes to call it, and by the time Claus was able to return, Lewis with the help of a stingy defense had produced a 41-27 lead. When Claus threw his fourth TD pass of the game to 6-0, 234-pound senior running back Church Crenshaw to make it 48-27 with 7:29 left in the fourth, it was just about time to celebrate and scream Foley’s name just as they’ve done after each and every win or loss this season.

The Ka-Chunk offense

“We run the veer and emulate De La Salle but obviously not as good,” Benbow said with a chuckle. “We’re happy with 3-4 yards and we’ll take more when we can get it.”

“It started with my nephew who was our running back and whose last name is Cahill,” continued Benbow. “The local paper started calling our version of the veer the Ka-chunk replacing the Ca in Cahill with a Ka. The Ka-chunk is based on grinding it out and being nasty.”

More adversity

Even before they made it to the Northern Regional 5-A Bowl game they had more misfortune strike the team. The father of senior lineman Brendon Harralson was so ill he came to Senior Night in an ambulance and was brought onto the field on a gurney. Not long afterward the senior Harralson passed away. On the day of the Hercules game, the team went to his memorial service.

Playing for Coach Benbow

Not surprisingly, Benbow had a lot of praise for his kids but the most for Lewis.

“JB is a selfless kid. He was all about the team and one of the best we’ve ever had,” said Benbow about his star who did it all this season after accounting for 30 touchdowns with 16 rushing, 11 receiving, two passing and a fumble recovery in the end zone on defense.

A book could have been written with all the positive things Lewis had to say about Benbow so we’ll take his best quotes.

“What Coach Benbow has created in this community is unique. He’s created a program that makes a positive influence on young men’s lives.”

“Playing for Coach Benbow you learn from day one it’s not about wins on the field but what you do in the community. He measures his success with what we do down the road and how productive we are in the community.”

“He talks a lot about character too, and it came up a lot this year. We witnessed a near death experience.”

“All I can say is I’ve grown a lot as an individual and a man playing for Coach Benbow.”

Playing for Foley

“When we won the state championship it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience,” continued Lewis. “Of course we wanted our brother Bailey there with us but unfortunately he couldn’t be. But honestly, it was more sweet than bitter because it was the best ending it could be and a perfect ending to the story.

Foley continues to recover at home but it’s been a challenge.

“From where Bailey was to where he is now he’s doing amazing, but it’s a tough, long road ahead,” Benbow said.

Family and community

Benbow was an inside linebacker and center for legendary 26-year Fortuna coach Dick Cahill. Then after playing two years in college and then transferring to UC Davis where he got his degree, Benbow returned home and coached under Cahill and then George Tapanes before replacing Tapanes in 2008.

“I wouldn’t be here without Coach Cahill,” said Benbow, an AP Government teacher and the Athletic Director at Fortuna besides coaching football.

Benbow met his wife Tracy, a local elementary school teacher, and a former cheerleader at Fortuna, when both were student teachers. His 19-year old son Blake was a linebacker on the 2015 team that went 12-1 and is currently at Boise State working on his degree. Daughter Haley is a senior at Fortuna, and besides being a cheerleader like her mom was, she’s also the ASB President.

“Coach Benbow inspired everyone. The players, coaches, the school and community,” said Humboldt County sports radio personality Tag Wotherspoon.

“I’ve been covering high school sports in this area for over 35 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” continued Wotherspoon. “I think Coach Benbow would be the first to say he may have had better teams but this team overachieved and seemed to be a team of destiny. But I do think this was his best coaching job on and off the field because he provided that necessary leadership as a coach and mentor the team needed in a very difficult time for them.”

“I’m honored to receive the Prep2Prep award and represent our kids and our program,” Benbow said. “I am blessed with an incredible group of young men, coaches and a wonderful and supportive community.”

About the only thing that could make this story even better than it is would be if Bailey Foley can make a complete recovery.

Congratulations to Mike Benbow, the Prep2Prep NCS Coach of the Year.

Others considered:

Paul Cronin, Cardinal Newman

The now veteran Cardinals’ coach had 11 players and coaches in his program, including quarterback Beau Barrington, lose their homes in the Santa Rosa fires yet he still managed to hold the team together all the way to the NCS Division III title game where they fell just short to Marin Catholic. Had Fortuna and Coach Benbow not won a state title, it would have been an even more difficult choice between the two.

Vic Galli, Pittsburg

Galli and Pittsburg lost their starting quarterback a week before the first game, and hardly missed a beat. Despite having two later games cancelled due to air quality issues, the Pirates held it together under the 16-year head coach, going unbeaten in the BVAL and reaching the CIF 1-A championship game.