Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Arcata Tigers comfortably took care of business sin their playoff opener against Bethel on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — One week after losing their regular season finale at Ferndale a week ago, the Arcata Tigers were clearly fired up for their playoff opener on Friday night.

The Tigers, who are seeded No. 1 in the North Coast Section Division-6 bracket, comfortably took care of business against No. 8 Bethel, opening up an insurmountable 33-point lead before halftime on their way to a 52-12 victory.

The win sets up a home semifinal against No. 5 Petaluma next weekend after the Trojans defeated No. 4 Montgomery 39-33.

Three other H-DNL teams were also in action in the NCS postseason on Friday night.

In Crescent City, in the Division-7 bracket, the Del Norte Warriors took their first lead of the game with a little over four minutes remaining and held on to beat Kelseyville 13-12.

The Knights bobbled snaps on a pair of PAT attempts, which ultimately proved to be the difference on the night.

The No. 4 Warriors will now play No. 1 Moreau Catholic in next week’s semifinals after the Mariners rolled over St. Bernard’s 49-14 in their playoff opener.

The loss ends the season for the Crusaders, who took an early lead but then gave up 49 unanswered points to the top seeds in the bracket.

Also in Division 7, the No. 6 Fortuna Huskies lost at No. 3 Piedmont by a score of 42-26 in a high-scoring back-and-forth game.

Just one point separated the two schools at halftime, but a 22-point third quarter for the home team would prove decisive and they led by 15 going into the fourth quarter.

Next up, Piedmont will play the winner of Saturday’s Ferndale/Vallejo game, which kicks off at 1 p.m. at Coach Carlson Wildcat Field at Ferndale High.

Check out some first-half Arcata highlights below …

Quarterback Luke Lemke and the Arcata Tigers quickly ended their game against the Jaguars as a contest with three first-quarter touchdowns and three more in the second quarter, and they led 39-6 at halftime.

The junior QB threw for a pair of first-half TDs and ran in for another.

Senior receiver Cal Tucker got the party started early, returning the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown.

He would add a 30-yard TD reception late in the second quarter.

Jackson Strand also had a 28-yard TD reception from Lemke, while Tony Buchanan added a 25-yard TD run and Alex Greenway also had a short TD run.

Up in Crescent City, meanwhile, the Del Norte Warriors edged a quality Kelseyville team in their playoff opener thanks in large part to a big night from their defense.

After giving up a touchdown on the Knights’ opening possession of the night, the Warriors trailed 6-0 going into the second quarter.

Del Norte quarterback Aidan Rice would combine with running back Ben Borges on a 20-yard TD pass just 14 seconds before halftime and both teams went into the break tied 6-6.

The score remained the same until the fourth quarter, but the visitors would add to their tally on a 75-yard TD run to re-take the lead early in the period.

The Warriors, however, would have the final say when Borges scored his second TD of the night, this one on a two-yard run, and a Greyson Franklin PAT gave them the narrowest of leads with 4:26 on the clock.

The defense would hold firm after that, with Braydan Johnson and Colby Moore combining on what was arguably the play of the night.

With the Knights driving for a potential go-ahead score, Moore knocked the ball loose and Johnson recovered the fumble to give the Warriors possession in Kelseyville territory with 3:20 remaining.

Kelseyville would get the ball one more time, but was unable to score.