Check out Fortuna’s Russell Pascascio score on back-to-back dunks in tournament play over the weekend …

By Ray Hamill — It should be a fun winter on the H-DNL basketball courts, with wide-open races shaping up in both the Big 5 and Little 4.

And that makes it difficult deciding on who should be the frontrunners in our first Boys Power Rankings of the season.

Making it even more difficult to call is the unfortunate sickness that has been plaguing just about every team so far this season, with many rosters shorthanded for various games.

For comparison sake, the MaxPreps rankings have the McKinleyville Panthers as the highest-ranked local team at No. 39 in the section, six places ahead of the Fortuna Huskies.

(Interestingly, five of the nine H-DNL girls teams are ranked in the top 22.)

For now, however, the Huskies are our No. 1 in the Power Rankings, courtesy of their big win over Arcata, a team the Panthers barely beat.

But the Panthers are a close No. 2 and have shown more than enough so far to suggest they will be among the league contenders heading into the business end of the season.

At No. 3, a young Arcata team has been up and down so far, but the Tigers have enough talent to cause any local team concerns and if they can put together a consistent run they could yet successfully defend the Big 5 title they won a year ago.

The Cubs, meanwhile, continue to impress under head coach Taylor Morrow and look like the early favorites to win the Little 4, but their league rivals are also building some momentum ahead of the campaign and it should be an exciting race.

At No. 5, for now, we have both Eureka and Del Norte, two of the most difficult local teams to gauge so far, thanks to sickness and some inconsistency.

Both, however definitely have the talent to make some serious noise in league play.

Submitted photo – The Huskies celebrate their championship at the Nevada Union tournament over the weekend.

POWER RANKINGS

1 — Fortuna (8-4)

The Huskies have lopsided wins over South Fork and Arcata, two top-5 teams

2 — McKinleyville (10-3)

The Panthers have played just one local team so far, edging Arcata on a buzzer beater

3 — Arcata (6-4)

Tigers are 2-2 against H-DNL opponents, topping both Eureka and Hoopa, and losing to Mack and Fortuna

4 — South Fork (10-3)

The defending L4 champs are the early favorites to repeat

5T — Del Norte (6-8)

The Warriors have won both their games against H-DNL opponents, beating Ferndale and SB

5T — Eureka (5-4)

The Loggers have won four straight games