Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Ferndale Wildcats improved to 3-2 with a thrilling win over Arcata on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Cats are one of the big stories of 2019 in North Coast football.

On Friday night, they came from behind twice in the second half on the way to pulling out a thrilling 45-38 win over Arcata at the Redwood Bowl.

And they did it with plenty of offense, scoring six touchdowns and a 22-yard Colson Renner field goal.

There were numerous heroes on the night for the Cats, none more so than Landon Gomes, who continues to be a nightmare for opposing teams and scored three touchdowns in the win.

Receiver Javier Lopez added a pair of touchdown catches, both from quarterback Jenner Christiansen, who continues to mature at the position and turned in arguably his best performance yet for the Cats (3-2).

“He made a lot of smart decisions,” Ferndale head coach Clint McClurg said of Christiansen. “He did extremely well. He made smart decisions throwing the ball away at times, and distributing the ball, and he made a couple of huge downfield plays.”

Along the line, Caden Rocha impressed, as did Bryce Bell and the always reliable Dominic Regli, opening holes for the running game and paving the way for the offensive onslaught against an Arcata team that had allowed just seven points combined in its previous two games.

Another player who continues to impress for the Cats and is suddenly playing a huge role on the offense is tight end Tristen Martin, who broke free for a 74-yard reception to set up a go-ahead Gomes TD early in the fourth quarter. (See video)

Martin also pulled in a two-point conversion reception late in the game.