Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka Loggers are up to No. 2 in this week’s rankings after an impressive win over St. Bernard’s.

By Ray Hamill — The top two teams in this week’s Power Rankings both got back to winning ways this past weekend, as we head toward the halfway point of the season.

The Del Norte Warriors remain No. 1, where they have been all season, after another dominating win, this time over West Valley.

With the exception of their lone loss at South Medford two weeks ago, the Warriors have rolled over their other three opponents by a combined 168-20.

The Loggers, meanwhile, responded well to a loss at Ukiah the previous week by beating St. Bernard’s 31-13 and jumping ahead of their crosstown rivals in this week’s Power Rankings.

The top two teams will face off in Crescent City next week, in what will be the first of two meetings between them this fall.

The Crusaders are No. 3 in this week’s rankings after their loss at Albee Stadium, but look for them to get better as they welcome some of their transfers into the lineup after they were forced to sit out the early part of the season because of transfer protocols.

The Hoopa Warriors, meanwhile, continued to build momentum with a dominating win at Trinity last weekend.

The Warriors have a bye this week and will be the last H-DNL team to finally host a game when they open league play at home to Arcata next weekend.

You can expect the stadium to be rocking that night.

And rounding our top five are McKinleyville and Ferndale, who are tied for fifth.

The Panthers have lost back-to-back games against quality opponents, but their defense has played very well through the early season.

The Ferndale Wildcats also deserve some recognition after an impressive win over Fortuna in the Milk Can game.

Hoopa will be the favorites when the Little 4 kicks off next week, but McKinleyville and Ferndale are building momentum ahead of league play and should both be in the mix as well.

POWER RANKINGS

1 — Del Norte (3-1)

The Warriors looked very impressive again this past week

2 — Eureka (2-1)

The Loggers play at Piner this week, then travel to Del Norte 

3 – St. Bernard’s (1-2)

The Crusaders will try to bounce back from a loss at Eureka when they play at Arcata on Saturday

4 – Hoopa (3-1)

Two straight wins for the Warriors

5T – McKinleyville (1-2)

The Panthers’ D is playing well this year

5T — Ferndale (2-2)

The Cats do small school football as well as anyone