By Ray Hamill — A statement win by the Arcata Tigers over the weekend sees them rise to the top of our Power Rankings this week.
The Tigers rallied late to beat former No. 1 Fortuna 26-18 thanks in large part to the efforts of Dayquan Dunn who stepped up big time in the final few minutes of the game.
The senior standout had a blocked punt and scored two late touchdowns including a pick six he took half the length of the field to the end zone.
The Tigers, who also have beaten Eureka this season, now have two victories over Big 4 teams in the first two weeks of the new campaign.
They will be tested again at Del Norte this Friday night, where a win would further solidify their status as the best team in the H-DNL right now.
The Huskies, who played Friday’s game mostly without the services of senior standout Jake Houseworth, drop two spots to No. 3 in this week’s rankings, but they remain one of the best teams in the area despite the late letdown on Friday night.
The St. Bernard’s Crusaders, meanwhile, continued to impress over the weekend with a comfortable win over Willits and remain at No. 2 in our rankings.
The high-flying Crusaders overcame some early adversity on their way to a dominating 49-32 victory in their home opener and also improved to 2-0.
The SB offense has been particularly impressive early in the new campaign and the Crusaders have scored 13 touchdowns through their first two games.
At No. 4 are the Del Norte Warriors, who had a nice win over Ashland in Crescent City on Friday night.
Del Norte won the game 28-20 to go to 1-1, and it was a good response by the players after being shut out at Fortuna the previous week.
And rounding out our top five are the Ferndale Wildcats, who continued to impress on Friday night with a 46-14 win at Fall River.
With the victory, the high-scoring Cats moved to 2-0 as they head into a bye week.
Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
POWER RANKINGS
1 — Arcata (2-0)
The Tigers have won a pair of early games against Big 4 opponents
2 — St. Bernard’s (2-0)
The Crusaders have scored 13 touchdowns in their opening two games
3 — Fortuna (1-1)
The Huskies saw an 11-point lead disappear late against the Tigers
4 — Del Norte (1-1)
The Warriors responded well in their home opener on Friday night
5 — Ferndale (2-0)
The Wildcats have scored 85 points in their opening two games
Ferndale being ranked #5 just because they are a small school is absurd. They need to be ranked #2 or #3.
You think Ferndale is the 5th best team in Humboldt? Coming off of a State Championship and jumping out to a 2-0 record?
Come on Ray, put some respect on their name.
Would luv to hear about the jv teams as well those boys work as hard if not more