By Ray Hamill — The Arcata Tigers were the only H-DNL football team to play here on the North Coast this past weekend, and they set themselves up nicely for conference play with a hard-fought 36-28 win over Pinole Valley.

After storming out to a 28-7 lead with TDs on their opening four possessions, the Tigers had to withstand a big Pinole Valley rally in the second half, as the visitors scored three unanswered TDs to tie the game at 28-28.

But the Tigers did what they had to and sealed their second straight victory with a late Ty Franklin touchdown reception form quarterback Shane Purcell.

Check out the first-half highlights above.

Alex Jioras continued his impressive season with two early TD catches from Purcell, while Carson Tucker pulled in another and Alex Gorge ran in for a score.

The Tigers open the Little 4 at home to Ferndale on Friday night.

For more on last weekend’s victory, see Shorthanded Tigers find a way rot win late …