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The Ferndale Wildcats are North Coast Section champions for the 14th time in school history.

On Friday night, the Cats held on late for a 14-7 win over Willits in the Division-7 final at Ukiah High School, winning on the road against a higher seed for the third time in three playoff games.

The section crown is the first since 2012 for the most storied program in H-DNL football, and it was particularly gratifying after some barren years.

“It’s been a long time, especially for Ferndale,” head coach Clint McClurg said. “Our seniors right now really, really did turn the corner, and I’m proud of them. I’m really proud of them.

“The seniors are leaving their mark on the program, and they kept the program alive. We didn’t even have a JV program (in recent years), and they not only won a section championship but they kept this program alive when it was on life support.”

The team defense once again played a crucial role in securing the victory.

Over the last 10 quarters of play, the Ferndale D has allowed just one touchdown, a first-quarter score by Willits’ Finn Lessner, who ran in from a yard out to give his team an early lead.

The Cats responded seven minutes later when quarterback Tanner Pidgeon threw a 30-yard play-action TD pass to Braeden Rice and Dayton Comer would add the first of his two PATs to tie the game at 7-7.

“We established our run game and caught them off guard,” McClurg said.

The score would remain 7-7 until the fourth quarter.

Two minutes into the final period, the Wildcats would take their first lead of the game when ever-consistent senior Trent Titus added a TD run.

“No. 3 has been making plays for us all year long,” McClurg said. “We call him the squid, and he looked like a squid getting through their defense.”

A second Comer PAT put the Ferndale up 14-7 and that was all the defense would need.

With injuries mounting in recent weeks, several sophomores stepped up in the playoff run and that continued to be the case on Friday night.

In addition to the ever-dangerous Pidgeon, Prescott Langer and Ethan Weitzel, each of whom has been outstanding all season, sophomores like Rice, Jake Kurwitz, Tristen Titus and Rolland McClurg all stepped up in the biggest game of the season.

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With senior co-captain Levi Dixon limited through injury, the coaches were forced to make some changes on defense, with Jonah Anderson taking over at linebacker and Rolland McClurg starting at corner.

Later in the game, another injury resulted in sophomore Tristen Titus coming in at linebacker, and despite all the shifting the Ferndale defense held firm against a good Willits team that had scored 88 points in its first two playoffs games.

“We really settled in,” the head coach said. “We had a lot of adversity to overcome with new starters on defense and our sophomores really stepped up.

“It was great team football. Our defense played lights out.”

Dixon was limited, but he did play on an offensive line that really set the tone and paved the way for a Ferndale offense that “stayed true to the ground and pound,” according to the coach.

“That guy has the heart of a champion,” Clint McClurg said of Dixon. “He did whatever he could do to help the team.”

Alongside him, Weitzel, Kurwitz, Thomas Fergison and Andrew Clevenger all anchored the line.

“Those guys really did step up,” the head coach said.

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So too did a defensive front that included Weitzel, Kacey Luster, Henry Westfall and Wes Renner, who combined to help contain a dangerous Willits team that had won five of its previous six games.

The Cats held the Wolverines to their second lowest points total of the season, and they did it just one week after holding No. 1 seed Clear Lake to its lowest points total of the season.

Remarkably, the section championship is the second of the fall for Ferndale High, following a first-ever NCS crown the girls soccer team achieved a couple of weeks ago.

Not bad for the smallest of the nine H-DNL schools that play the majority of league sports.

“They accomplished something very special,” Clint McClurg said of his players. “And it’s been a long time for a tradition-filled town like Ferndale.”

And they’re not done yet.

The Wildcats will now advance to the state playoffs, with the brackets set to be announced on Sunday.

Ferndale was seeded No. 5 for the section playoffs, while Willits was No. 2.