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By Ray Hamill — It was a memorable week for a couple of local teams and a couple of local football players.

The Ferndale Wildcats turned some heads around the H-DNL with their memorable Milk Can game victory over their biggest rivals on Saturday.

A few days later, the South Fork girls soccer team got a breakthrough win over one of their biggest nemesis in recent years with a hard-fought 2-1 win against St. Bernard’s.

And because of of that, the Wildcats and Cubs are our teams of the week this week.

And that’s not all for Wildcats.

Junior Tanner Pidgeon enjoyed another outstanding day leading the Cats to victory, scoring three first-half touchdowns with a determined performance, earning him one of our athlete of the week awards.

Pidgeon has been an inspiring presence for the Wildcats this season and is one of the most fun players to watch on the North Coast right now.

Ferndale epitomizes team football as well as any school in the H-DNL, but “No. 2,” as his coach fondly refers to him, continues to be a driving force for the team.

Another local football player also turned in an inspirational performance for his team this past week.

St. Bernard’s junior Tyler Hinrichs was also a driving force for the St. Bernard’s Crusaders in their big 45-13 win at Clear Lake, earning him athlete of the week honors.

Remarkably, after breaking his hand in a win over Biggs two weeks prior, it looked like Hinrichs was going to miss several weeks.

But the player his coach calls their “Swiss Army knife” because of the multiple roles he plays for the Crusaders, returned to the lineup last week and had a huge game.

Hinrichs scored 27 points in the win, including two rushing touchdowns, a receiving TD, a two-point conversion run, a 31-yard field goal and four of five PAT attempts.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Tanner Pidgeon

Ferndale Football, Junior

This is the second time this season that Pidgeon has been named one of our athletes of the week and we’re not even out of September.

The dynamic junior is arguably one of the two best quarterbacks in the H-DNL this fall — along with Arcata’s Luke Lemke — and his importance to Ferndale football was on full display last weekend.

Pidgeon rushed for 153 yards and three TDs on 21 carries, which is actually below his average for the season (174.3 yards a game).

He also now has 11 rushing TDs in his team’s three games this season.

For more on his big week, see Wildcats win a thriller as the Milk Can returns to Ferndale …

Tyler Hinrichs

St. Bernard’s Football, Junior

The SB standout helped key a big second half for his team in Lake County as the Crusaders improved to 4-0 on the season.

“Amazing,” is how head coach Matt Tomlin described Hinrichs, who played with a cast on his hand and remarkably did not drop a pass.

Hinrichs finished with three catches for 84 yards.

For more on his big week, see Crusaders overcome injuries, cruise to easy win at Clear Lake …

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

Ferndale Football

Milk Can bragging rights for the next 12 months belong to the Wildcats, who dug deep on their way to 29-26 victory over the Fortuna Huskies at Coach Carlson Wildcat Field.

Jonah Anderson’s late interception helped seal the win for the home team just as the visitors appeared to be driving for the go-ahead score.

There’s something special about this group of players, who are playing about as well as anybody in the H-DNL right now.

And head coach Clint McClurg and his staff deserve a lot of credit for helping to put Ferndale football back on the map again over the past 12 months.

For more on their big week, see Wildcats win a thriller as the Milk Can returns to Ferndale …

Photo by Jennipher Willis – South Fork’s Hannah Savio, right, and St. Bernard’s Sahara Tupua battle for possession during Wednesday’s game in Miranda.

South Fork Girls Soccer

Hannah Savio scored the late game-winner on a breakaway for the Cubs as they recorded their first win over St. Bernard’s in a long time.

A young team that features no seniors is coming together nicely under the guidance of longtime head coach Ann Constantino.

Whether the Cubs can challenge for a Little 4 tittle or make the North Coast Section playoffs remains to be seen, but the players are buying in and playing better as a team than a lot of their league opponents.

For more on their big week, see Cubs hold on late for breakthrough win over St. Bernard’s …