Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s Crusaders will host Stellar Prep on Friday afternoon.

By Ray Hamill — Three local football teams will celebrate homecoming this weekend, with five games on tap.

The St. Bernard’s Crusaders will get a busy weekend started with a rare Friday afternoon game, hosting a struggling Stellar Prep in their homecoming, with kickoff set for 3 p.m. at Crusader Field.

Later in the evening, the Fortuna Huskies will host Foothill in their homecoming game at 7 p.m., while Arcata and Hoopa will face off at the Redwood Bowl at 7:30 p.m. in the Tigers’ homecoming.

The Eureka Loggers will travel to play at Chico on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., while the Ferndale Wildcats will look to keep their strong start to league play going when they host McKinleyville on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Both Del Norte (6-1) and South Fork (4-2) have byes this weekend.

For more on Eureka’s game, see Another tough test in store for Loggers at Chico …

FRIDAY

Stellar Prep (1-6) at St. Bernard’s (5-1)

The Thunder struggled at Fortuna last week and you get the feeling things won’t get any easier for them this weekend.

The Hayward school has been outscored 163-8 in its last four games, including three shutouts.

The Crusaders come into the game one week after their first loss of the season against a much larger Templeton team in San Luis Obispo.

This is just the second home game of the year for the Crusaders, who will now play three of their final four games at St. Bernard’s.

Hoopa (1-1, 2-3) at Arcata (1-1, 3-3), 7:30 p.m.

This could be the game of the weekend here on the North Coast, and arguably the one with most at stake.

If Ferndale beats a struggling McKinleyville team at home on Saturday, as expected, the loser of this game will find themselves two wins out of top spot at the halfway stage of league play and facing an uphill battle to get back into the race.

The winner, on the other hand, remains right in the thick of the championship chase and will still hold their fate in their own hands.

Arcata is coming off an impressive 44-13 win over McKinleyville, while Hoopa lost last week to Ferndale, 59-30.

Foothill (3-2) at Fortuna (2-4), 7 p.m.

The Huskies are coming off an impressive 38-0 win over Stellar Prep last weekend, but will have a much tougher time of it against a Cougars team that is ranked 253 spots ahead of them in the state, according to MaxPreps.

The Cougars, who play in the Northern Section, are coming off a 27-20 win over Red Bluff.

The JVs will also be in action, but the varsity game will start a half hour earlier than usual because of homecoming festivities.

SATURDAY

McKinleyville (0-2, 1-5) at Ferndale (2-0, 4-2), 1 p.m.

Ferndale is coming off a 59-30 win at Hoopa and has put up an impressive 104 points in two league games against a pair of quality defenses.

The Panthers, who have had to endure a lot of key injuries this season, including losing both starting guards before last week’s game, will have their hands full again against the Little 4 frontrunners.