Submitted photo – The Ferndale players and coaches celebrate their championship win.

By Ray Hamill — There can be only one team of the week in local sports this week.

A 14-7 win over Willits secured a North Coast Section football championship for the Ferndale Wildcats, which was impressive on its own.

But the manner in which they won the championship — with three straight road wins over higher seeds — really makes Ferndale a team of the month.

And the Wildcats aren’t done yet.

The players will try to keep a memorable season going when they face off against Portola in the NorCal playoff game at the Redwood Bowl on Friday night.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the winner of that game will advance to next week’s Division 7-AA state bowl game, which means the Cats are just two wins from a possible state championship.

How they got this far was particularly impressive.

Not only were the Wildcats the lowest seeded team to reach any of this year’s 10 NCS championship games but they were also the only team to have to win three road games on the way to the championship.

And they achieved that by playing small-town football at its best, with players sacrificing individual accolades to help the overall team effort.

And it worked to perfection, while restoring some pride to the most successful playoff program in H-DNL football history.

After a disappointing October that included two heartbreaking losses to Arcata — two loses that ended any hopes of a conference championship — the players responded in the best fashion possible and now they’re the last remaining H-DNL team still going.

And that make them an easy choice for our team of the week.

TEAM OF THE WEEK 

Ferndale Football

The Wildcats won their 14th all-time NCS championship in football with a 14-7 victory over Willits and they achieved with a complete team effort.

They also won with some outstanding defense along the way, while giving up just one touchdown on defense in the past 10 quarters of play.

The season could easily have gotten away from Ferndale after the two conference losses to Arcata, but this group of players refused to let that happen and answered the call with one of the most impressive NCS playoff runs we’ve seen in some time, considering the obstacles they had to overcome along the way.

Head coach Clint McClurg and his players — including team captains Levi Dixon, Tanner Pidgeon, Prescott Langer and Ethan Weitzel — have had to battle hard for this and they deserve a ton of credit for what they have achieved.

And like I said earlier, they’re not done yet.

For more on their big week, see Resilient seniors lead Ferndale football back to the summit …