Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s and Eureka JVs in action at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday night.

By Ray Hamill — A pair of conference JV football championships could be decided this weekend, with two huge matchups on tap.

In the Little 4, the conference-leading Ferndale Wildcats will have an opportunity to clinch the championship outright when they welcome the McKinleyville Panthers to Coach Carlson Wildcat Field on Saturday morning.

Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m.

Despite having a number of sophomores and freshmen playing varsity this fall, the Wildcats have impressed on their way to a 6-2 record and they are unbeaten in the Little 4 with a perfect record of four wins in four games.

This past weekend, they continued to roll with a comfortable 42-6 win at Hoopa.

Their only challengers for the conference title is an impressive McKinleyville team, which remains in the chase after defeating Arcata 31-0 over the weekend.

The Panthers have grown in stature as the season has progressed and have lost just once in their last six games, including winning three of their last four.

Their only loss in that run was against Ferndale (28-6) and if they can avenge that defeat this Saturday they will put themselves in prime position to share the championship with the Cats.

A loss, however, would see any chances of a shared championship disappear.

Also in the Little 4 this weekend, the young Hoopa Warriors will try to bounce back when they play at Arcata on Friday evening.

In the Big 4, meanwhile, the Fortuna Huskies and St. Bernard’s Crusaders each got their conference campaign off to a winning start this past weekend.

The Huskies traveled to Crescent City and came away with another impressive win, beating the Del Norte Warriors 23-0.

This was the young Huskies’ second shutout victory over Del Norte this season, having also beaten them 19-0 in Fortuna on opening weekend.

It also keeps them unbeaten on the season at 7-0 and sees them got to 1-0 in conference play.

The Crusaders were equally impressive in beating Eureka 39-19 at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday night, as they improved to 1-0 in the Big 4 and 6-1 on the season.

St. Bernard’s and Fortuna will face off for a second time in two weeks this Friday evening in Fortuna, with at least a share of the conference title on the line.

Whichever school gets the win will go to 2-0 in conference and will be guaranteed at least a co-championship.

The Huskies won the previous non-conference meeting 20-12, handing the Crusaders their only loss of the fall.

Also in action in the Big 4 this week, Del Norte and Eureka will face off at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday evening and the winner of that game will remain in contention for a share of the conference title.