POWER RANKINGS — Changes near the top in final rankings

By barstoolfanatics on November 9, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Crusaders are No. 2 in this week’s rankings.

By Ray Hamill — It’s been a season full of ups and downs and twists and turns, but there has been one constant all fall.

The Del Norte Warriors were the best team in the H-DNL on day one and they were still the best team in the H-DNL on the final weekend of the regular season.

They dominated throughout and will carry plenty of momentum and confidence into this week’s playoff opener, along with perhaps a little chip on their collective shoulders after being denied a home game by the NCS.

Outside of the Warriors, however, the order of our rankings have been less clear.

After hard-fought and much-needed league wins over Fortuna and Eureka in the final three weeks of the season, the St. Bernard’s Crusaders deservedly take over the No. 2 spot.

Interestingly, St. Bernard’s is 6-0 against Eureka and Fortuna in Big 4 games over the past two seasons, although they did lose to Eureka earlier this year in a non-league showdown.

The Fortuna Huskies, meanwhile, are No. 3 after saving their season with a big victory over the Loggers two weeks ago.

The Loggers close out at No. 4 after a disappointing stretch run.

In reality, Eureka has the second most talented roster on the North Coast and their performance against Del Norte at Albee Stadium showed us that.

But when you lose your final two games to Fortuna and SB, regardless of the reasons, you drop to No. 4.

And closing out our final rankings of the year, we have a tie at No. 5 after McKinleyville and Arcata split their two matchups in league play.

The Panthers are worthy Little 4 champions and fully deserve their home playoff game this week, but the Tigers closed out on more of a roll than any other local team, with the obvious exception of Del Norte.