Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka Loggers opened the new season at home to Placer on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — It wasn’t the greatest ever start to the season for the local prep football teams, although there was plenty to be optimistic about nonetheless.

Of the eight teams that kicked off, only two managed a win, with Del Norte and St. Bernard’s posting impressive road victories.

Eureka turned in a good performance against a very good Placer team, but Arcata, Ferndale, Fortuna, McKinleyville and South Fork each struggled in their openers.

Here then are five takeaways from the weekend …

1 — Not a good weekend overall for local teams

Arcata, Ferndale and McKinleyville each lost games they might have expected to win, the latter two against fellow NCS Division-7 opponents.

A young South Fork team that suffered two key injuries also had a tough opener against a good Cornerstone Christian team, while Fortuna, as expected, struggled on the road against one of the better teams in the entire section, Cardinal Newman.

All five have a lot of work to do going forward, but the good news is all five have plenty of time.

The only local team to really impress in a loss was Eureka, which fell to a top Division-III team from the Sac-Joaquin Section.

The next game is going to be particularly key for all six of these teams.

2 — Statement win for Del Norte

One team that certainly didn’t disappoint on opening weekend was the Del Norte Warriors, who traveled to Moreau Catholic and came away with a hard-fought 20-19 win.

The game was won in the trenches, as the visitors wore down the Mariners physically, putting together a four-minute drive to close out the game.

The Warriors appear like a legitimate force this year, and a win on the road at last season’s No. 1 seed in Division IV will earn them a lot of respect throughout the NCS.

3 — Eureka will be fine

If there was any doubt the Loggers are going to be competitive this year after losing so much talent from a year ago, they put it to rest on Friday night in a highly entertaining 40-27 loss to a top Placer program.

Arguably this year’s team will be more exciting to watch than a year ago, when the Loggers blew away most of their opponents.

They look like legitimate conference contenders once again.

4 — Dynamic Crusaders haven’t lost a step

The Crusaders also had a big statement win on the road to open the season, rolling over El Molino.

We expected them to win this matchup, but they did so about as well as anyone could have expected, and their offense already looks like it’s playing in mid-season form.

We know the Crusaders have talent at the skill positions, but their lines have stepped up early in the new campaign, perhaps the most impressive part of the team’s early success.

It was also good to see Justin Hagler healthy again.

5 — Injuries already taking their toll

A number of early injuries affected local teams this week, most notably some of the smaller schools.

The South Fork Cubs lost their starting quarterback and running back, which certainly didn’t help matters going up against a good Cornerstone team, while Hoopa was unable to field a team against Fort Bragg with six players inactive for the game, which the Warriors were forced to cancel.

Eureka also suffered a pair of key losses, with Jacob Wooden and Miles Meynell each forced out of the game with leg injuries.

Both are expected to be sidelined for a couple of weeks.