Sometimes all a team needs is a second chance.

The Hughson High football team got just that in the 2026 Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs, drawing a familiar opponent for Friday’s home opener.

Last season, the Huskies saw their season end on a heartbreaker, falling on the road in the playoffs to Roseville.

That team had just over 30 seniors who never put on a Hughson High jersey again after the loss and when everyone saw this year’s team draw Roseville in last Sunday’s selection show, head coach Shaun King says he heard from nearly all of them. Senior Titus Beers heard from a handful as well.

“Sunday we came together and watched the playoffs (reveal) like other teams … and when it came up on the screen, his phone lit up, my phone lit up with guys from last year,” Beers said. “We came into this game with a certain fire.”

This year’s team is a young Huskies team with two sophomores, two juniors and a senior on the offensive line, a sophomore quarterback and a sophomore running back.

But for Beers, a tight end/defensive end and one of the few returners who made the trip to Roseville last season, the loss hit harder than anyone else.

In 2025, Hughson trailed by eight points and was marching down the field. Beers, a junior, tried to come down with a pass from then-freshman quarterback Hudson Baldwin. Beers came down with the ball at the same time as a Roseville defender. While Hughson’s sideline believed it was a touchdown, officials called it an interception. Hughson’s comeback fell short and it was eliminated in the semifinals.

Friday night, the Huskies got what they had waited nearly a whole year for: revenge.

On a rain-soaked, soggy field on a cold night with the bleachers full, the No. 4 Huskies came from behind to beat the five-seed Tigers, 26-21, moving on to the Division IV semifinals for the second straight season.

It was a sloppy start for both teams and for a while each side struggled to gain momentum. Hughson sophomore running back Blake Hobbs, as sure-handed as they come entering the game with zero fumbles on the season, fumbled twice on the team’s first two possessions. Baldwin threw an interception on the third.

But the defense kept them in the game, holding Roseville to a punt and turnover on downs in its first two possessions.

Midway through the second quarter, the Tigers scored the first points of the game, taking a 7-0 lead but Hobbs bounced back late in the second quarter, scoring a rushing touchdown with 1 minute, 8 seconds left in the first half.

Hughson forced a quick punt on its first defensive possession of the second half and quickly gained momentum, marching 41 yards to take a 12-7 lead.

But the narrow advantage came at a cost. Baldwin dove into the end zone for his only rushing touchdown of the game but injured his hip, was helped off the field and did not return. Freshman Ethan Barnes, the starting junior varsity quarterback called up for the postseason, became the team’s signal caller with 6:42 left in the third quarter.

The Huskies shifted the gameplan, putting Beers and Hobbs in the backfield on either side of Barnes and trusting them with the offense.

Late in the game, everyone knew the two Huskies who would get the ball, but no one on the Roseville side could stop it.

If you want to find Hobbs, keep your eyes on the middle of the pack. Look for the

Finding Beers is a little easier: just follow the moving scrum. Chances are the do-it-all offensive and defensive threat is in the middle somewhere, driving his feet and taking anyone who dares hang on with him for extra yards.

“That’s the confidence and camaraderie in our offensive line,” King said. “The o-line flat out said ‘Run behind us’ and that’s what we knew the gameplan was gonna be. It changed when (Baldwin) went out and we had to win in the trenches. The o-line did a great job.

Hobbs overcame his first quarter jitters and didn’t fumble the rest of the game. He carried the ball 27 times for 161 yards and a touchdown. Aiden Goularte also added a third-quarter interception.

“When (the fumbles) happened, I was beating myself up, I didn’t know how to react at first. I was getting into my head,” Hobbs said. “My youth coaches that I always looked up to came through and told me they knew I’d come back, fight for yards and have a good game.”

After Roseville took a 15-12 lead near the end of the third quarter, he and Beers carried the load on a 10-play, 77-yard drive, capped by a Beers seven-yard touchdown that gave Hughson a 19-15 lead and momentum. In addition to his rushing score and 39 yards on the ground, Beers made his impact on defense on the ensuing Roseville possession, putting the game out of reach with a 32-yard pick-six, giving Hughson a 26-15 advantage. Roseville added a final touchdown with 1:48 left but the damage was done. Barnes and the Huskies were three kneel downs from revenge.

“All throughout the week, all I could think about was this game. It got me super nervous,” Beers said. “But then we came out here and it was just another game. QB went down so we just had to step it up on the front line and in the backfield.”

The Huskies possibly played their last game at Husky Memorial Stadium. They face top seed Twelve Bridges next week with a trip to the D-IV title game at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium on the line.

Friday marked the end of an era that saw Hughson football rise back to prominence with King and a slew of college football players ranging from Divisions I, II and III to NAIA and JUCO. The stadium moved to its current spot-on campus in the 1970s and remained virtually untouched but later this year, renovations will start on a new stadium for Husky football. It is expected to include a new grass field, new bleachers, lights, press box, snack bar and restrooms as well as a renovated all-weather track.

In just the last five years, Husky Stadium and Hughson fans witnessed a TVL championship season, a perfect regular season and SJS playoff run, three straight Sac-Joaquin Section titles and NorCal Bowl Games, a state championship victory, a one-point win in a thriller against Sonora and a playoff run that spawned the “Heart Attack Huskies” nickname.

“Of course, the last game here would have to come down to (another comeback),” King said. “The Heart Attack Huskies, we just couldn’t put that away. There’s been some great games in the last five years on this field. And what a way to go out.”