POWER RANKINGS — A change at the top as wild season continues

By barstoolfanatics on January 31, 2024 • ( 1 Comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s boys have the longest winning streak of any H-DNL team heading into Wednesday night’s game at Hoopa.

By Ray Hamill — As we reach the final week of the regular season, several local teams look ready to make some noise in the upcoming Dick Niclai tournament and North Coast Section playoffs.

That hasn’t changed since last week, although we do see some changes at the top of our power rankings.

After suffering their first loss of 2024 — falling to McKinleyville on Saturday — the St. Bernard’s girls drop one spot to No. 2 in this week’s rankings.

But it’s not all bad news for the Crusaders.

The SB boys continued to roll with victories over South Fork and Clear Lake in the past week and stretched their winning streak to 12 straight.

St. Bernard’s has not lost a game since mid December, a run that includes recent wins over McKinleyville and Eureka.

And that means they move up one spot this week to No. 1 in our rankings.

The Eureka girls also have impressed all season and could make a legitimate case for being No. 1.

A recent loss to St. Bernard’s is the only blemish on their resume this month, a run that has seen them win seven of their eight games.

The Loggers were crowned Big 5 champions for the third straight year on Tuesday night and they will look to close out a perfect conference campaign with a win against McKinleyville on Thursday.

Despite their loss to St. Bernard’s, the Eureka girls look like the team to beat in next week’s Dick Niclai tournament as they look to win a fourth straight Niclai tourney.

The Arcata girls remain at No. 4 in our rankings.

The Tigers’ only losses in recent weeks came against Eureka (twice) and at St. Bernard’s last week, and the No. 2 ranked team in North Coast Section Division 4 looks set to make some serious noise in the playoffs.

Rounding out this week’s rankings are the Arcata and McKinleyville boys, who are tied at No. 5.

It’s been difficult to separate these two rivals in recent weeks, with each school beating the other in conference in their own gym.

If the Tigers can beat Eureka on Wednesday night, Arcata and McKinleyville will be tied for the lead in the Big 5 standings going into the final night of action on Friday.

And then there’s next week’s Dick Niclai tournament …

Two other teams remain on the bubble this week.

The Fortuna boys and McKinleyville girls both look like they could challenge any of their H-DNL rivals in the Niclai tournament.

The question for each is can they do so consistently enough to make a run.

Also, the South Fork boys deserve some recognition.

Any hopes of a conference crown got away from them with a loss to St. Bernard’s, but the Cubs are ranked No. 2 in all of California among Division-6 teams.