By Ray Hamill — Heading into week four of the 2024 high school JV football season, four of the eight H-DNL teams are still unbeaten.

However, something will have to give this weekend, as the undefeated Ferndale Wildcats host neighbors and rivals the Fortuna Huskies in the JV version of the Milk Can showdown.

The Huskies improved to 3-0 last week with a comfortable 42-15 win over the McKinleyville Panthers after previously defeating both Del Norte and Arcata.

The Panthers dropped to 0-2.

Through their first three games, the young Fortuna players have given up just 21 points while scoring 82.

The Ferndale JVs have been equally impressive in their two games, both wins.

The young Cats, who had a bye last week, have outscored their first two opponents 62-8, including a 33-0 shutout win at Fall River in their last game two weeks ago.

Saturday’s game should be a good one between these two great rivals and a great warm-up for the always highly-anticipated varsity showdown later in the day.

The JVs play at 11:30 a.m.

Those two teams, however, are not the only local JV squads to impress early in the season.

The St. Bernard’s JVs are also off to an unbeaten start and improved to 3-0 with a 28-0 win over Biggs last weekend.

The shutout victory was the second straight for the young Crusaders, who have not given up any points since an 18-10 win at Hoopa on opening weekend.

A fourth local JV team also is unbeaten.

Last weekend, the Eureka Loggers JVs turned in what school varsity head coach Sam Edmonds described as “phenomenal” performance in a 28-7 win at Newark.

The Loggers, who tied their previous game at Shasta, are now 2-0-1.

The young Del Norte Warriors, meanwhile, also have impressed through the early going and won their second straight game with an 8-0 win over Arcata last week.

The Warriors, who have not lost since opening night at Fortuna, are now 2-1, while the Tigers dropped to 0-3.

All eight H-DNL JV teams will be back in action this weekend, including six on Friday night.

Here on the North Coast, Del Norte will host Skyline and McKinleyville will host University Prep.

Also playing on Friday night, St. Bernard’s travels to Clear Lake, Arcata plays at Oakland, Eureka at Willow Glen and Hoopa plays at Trinity.

The game between Ferndale and Fortuna will be the only JV game featuring local schools on Saturday.