POWER RANKINGS — Loggers make their move after statement win

By barstoolfanatics on October 17, 2024 • ( 1 Comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka Loggers had a statement win at Biggs last weekend.

By Ray Hamill — A statement win for the Eureka Loggers last weekend sees them make a big jump in this week’s Power Rankings, although the top two teams remain the same for the fourth straight week.

A tougher early-season schedule than any other H-DNL team this year saw the Loggers lose four of their opening five games.

However, that challenging run now appears to be paying dividends as the Loggers look to surprise some people down the stretch of the season.

Last weekend, Eureka traveled to Biggs and cruised to a dominating 43-0 win over the Wolverines, notching their second win in four games.

What does that mean for the Power Rankings?

Well, this was a Biggs team that came into the game with a record of 4-1, with its only loss coming at St. Bernard’s a few weeks ago.

But while the Crusaders barely edged Biggs in that showdown by a score of 20-14, the Loggers were far more dominating in their win, which came on the road.

Doe this mean the Loggers are the best team in the Big 4?

Time will tell, but after last weekend’s performance you can be certain none of their conference opponents will be taking them lightly in the coming weeks.

For much of the season the Loggers have hovered around the top-five in the Power Rankings, but after last week’s win they move into the top five for the first time in four weeks, landing at No. 3.

For comparison sake, St. Bernard’s is still ranked one spot ahead of the Loggers at No. 3 in the MaxPreps H-DNL rankings.

Arcata and Ferndale remain the frontrunners in the Humboldt Sports rankings, with the Tigers holding firm at No. 1 for the sixth straight week and the Cats right on their heels at No. 2 for the fourth straight week.

The top two teams will face off at McKinleyville High School on Friday night in what will be the most anticipated showdown of the local season so far.

This will be the first of two conference meetings between them over the next four weeks and Friday’s game will tell us more about who deserves to be No. 1.

Could we see a switch at the top next week? If Ferndale wins we will, but Arcata has shown no signs they don’t belong there over the past month.

St. Bernard’s, meanwhile, drops one spot to No. 4 this week despite winning in Tennessee last weekend.

That victory lifted the Crusaders to 5-1 on the season and they have a better record than any other team in the area not named Arcata or Ferndale.

But Eureka’s dominating win over a team St. Bernard’s had to battle all the way against a few weeks back suggests the Loggers should be ranked above them.

For now.

And rounding out our top five are the Fortuna Huskies, while the Del Norte Warriors drop out of the top five this week despite not playing last weekend.

The Warriors have won three straight games and are clearly improving week to week, while the Huskies have now dropped four straight games, albeit against some very good teams, including Ferndale, University Prep and St. Vincent de Paul.

But a dominating early-season shut out victory over the Warriors still carries some weight and it’s difficult to rank Del Norte ahead of the Huskies because of that.