Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — There was very little to separate the two heavy favorites in our poll asking readers who they think will win this year’s Little 4 in football.

A big thank you to all of our readers that took the time to vote this week, as conference play gets set to kick off this weekend.

Defending conference champion Arcata and defending 7-AA state champion Ferndale are considered the frontrunners for this year’s pennant, with the two schools scheduled to play each other twice in the final four weeks of the regular season.

And, according to our readers, one of the two is considered a very slight favorite, having garnered just three more votes.

The poll closed on Friday evening.

The Ferndale Wildcats received an impressive 45.25 percent of all votes cast, with the Arcata Tigers right on their heels with 44.25 percent of the votes.

Rounding out the poll, the Hoopa Warriors received 6.5 percent of the votes and the McKinleyville Panthers 4 percent.

The Cats and Tigers are both undefeated this season with identical records of 4-0, while the Warriors are 2-2 and the Panthers 0-4.

All four schools will be in action this weekend as the Little 4 kicks off six straight weeks of conference play.

Each team will play the other three schools home and away.

The Tigers open against the Panthers on Friday night, followed by the Wildcats and Warriors playing in Ferndale on Saturday afternoon.