Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Arcata’s Lennon Gieder, right, and receiver Cal Tucker celebrate one of Tucker’s touchdowns on Friday night.

The Arcata Tigers moved within two wins of a perfect regular season with another big win on Friday night, although they got more of a battle than many would have expected.

The Tigers played rival McKinleyville and won 47-28 to go to 4-0 in the Little 4 and 8-0 on the season.

There were two other games involving local teams on Friday night.

The South Fork Cubs got their first win of the season, rolling over Swett 68-12 in eight-person football and improving to 1-5 on the season and 1-2 in conference.

At Hoopa, meanwhile, the Ferndale Wildcats quickly put last week’s loss to Arcata behind them with a big 42-12 victory over the Warriors.

The win keeps the Cats in contention for the Little 4 title as they improved to 3-1 in conference and 7-1 on the season.

Hoopa dropped to 1-3 and 3-5.

At McKinleyville, the host Panthers matched up effectively with the Tigers, although Arcata head coach Matt Magers used the occasion to give some of his back-ups some playing time early in the game.

Starting quarterback Luke Lemke and his receivers did see plenty of action and were as effective as ever, as the Tigers scored five first-half touchdowns, including a 90-yard TD run by the electric Lemke.

He also threw two first-half touchdown passes to receiver Cal Tucker and another to Dayquan Dunn.

Running back Tony Buchanna also scored on a TD run midway through the second quarter.

However, the Panthers also found some rhythm on offense on their way to scoring a season-high 28 points.

Check out one of Cal Tucker’s TD receptions for Arcata below …

After Dunn’s early TD catch and a successful PAT put the Tigers up 7-0, the Panthers responded almost immediately when Kaden Waugh opened their account on a 35-yard TD run.

The Tigers went right back to work and added to their tally less than 90 seconds later when Tucker scored his first TD of the night on a 29-yard screen pass.

Arcata would add to the lead before the first quarter was out.

After they forced a quick punt on McKinleyville’s next possession, Lemke broke free up the middle for a 90-yard TD run on the very next play from scrimmage and the PAT put his team up 21-6. 

That didn’t slow the Panthers offense, however, and they capped their next possession with their second TD of the night on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Ruger Baxter to Jeremiah Smith.

The high-scoring half continued on Arcata’s next possession, when Tucker pulled in a short reception from Lemke and took it 66 yards to the end zone to put the Tigers up 27-12.

Both teams added to their tally later in the second quarter — Arcata on Buchanna’s TD run and McKinleyville on a second TD pass from Baxter to Smith, this one good for 30 yards  — and the Tigers led 34-19 at the break.

A back-and-forth battle continued after the interval, although Arcata never looked in danger of losing.

McKinleyville’s second-half TD came on a one-yard run by Baxter.

The McKinleyville JVs fared better and beat the Tigers 31-0 to remain in the hunt for a conference championship.

The young Panthers are unbeaten in five of their last six games and improved to 3-1 in the Little 4.