Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – St. Bernard’s Jake Fairfield in action against South Fork on Thursday night.

By Ray Hamill — Fresh off their undefeated Little 4 championship in boys basketball, the Crusaders are among the top-ranked Division-VI teams in California, according to MaxPreps.com.

St. Bernard’s (14-7) is currently No. 4 among D-VI teams in the state and No. 1 in the North Coast Section.

Also riding high in the latest rankings are the Del Norte boys, who closed out an undefeated Big 5 with a 61-33 win at home to McKinleyville on Thursday.

The Warriors (20-1) are No. 5 in the NCS among Division-IV teams and No. 10 in the state.

Other local D-IV teams in the NCS mix include No. 7 Arcata (17-8) and No. 8 Eureka (16-9).

In NCS Division VI, South Fork (13-10) is No. 6 and Ferndale (13-10) is No. 8.

In the girls rankings, Fortuna (21-2) is the highest ranked local team.

The Huskies, who were crowed Big 5 champions last week, are No. 6 among NCS Division-IV teams and No. 8 in California.

The St. Bernard’s girls (19-5), who have moved up a division this year after winning an NCS championship last season, are currently No. 9 in Division IV, three spots back of the Huskies.

Del Norte (12-10) is No. 10 in the same bracket, with Arcata (11-12) No. 15 and McKinleyville (9-14) No. 16.

In Division-III, Eureka (17-9) is No. 9, and Ferndale (8-12) is also No. 9 in Division VI.