Submitted photo – The Arcata Tigers celebrate their regional playoff win at Winters on Friday night.
More history beckons for the Arcata Tigers next week after they comfortably took care of business in their CIF North Regional Division 6-AA playoff game on Friday night.
One week after they clinched a first-ever North Coast Section football championship, the Tigers traveled to Winters High School for their regional playoff game and rolled to an emphatic 35-14 victory over the Warriors on the way to securing a first-ever NorCal title.
But this group of players are not done yet and next week they’ll get the chance to play for a first-ever state championship when they travel to Southern California to play Portola for the Division 6-AA title.
Friday’s result won’t come as a big surprise to anyone who has followed H-DNL football over the past decade.
The Tigers are the seventh league team to play for a regional title in the last nine postseasons, six of whom have now succeeded.
They started strong on Friday and never looked in danger of losing, opening up a 14-0 gap early in the second quarter and carrying a 21-7 advantage into halftime.
The Tigers would stretch the lead to three TDs midway through the third, and when the home team cut the deficit to 14 with 3:24 remaining in the game, Arcata made sure there would be no miracle comeback, adding a fifth touchdown to close out the game and keep the most memorable season in program history going.
Junior quarterback Luke Lemke accounted for four of Arcata’s touchdowns on the night, running in for two and passing for two.
Senior receiver Cal Tucker, who has been one of the Tigers’ most consistent and dangerous playmakers all season, got the party started with a touchdown run midway through the opening quarter and the Tigers would lead for the remainder of the game.
They doubled their advantage early in the second quarter when Lemke ran in for a 30-yard TD.
Check out Luke Lemke’s fourth-quarter TD run below …
And when Jesse Madsen scored for Winters just a few minutes later to narrow the deficit, the Tigers quickly responded when Lemke threw the first of his two TD passes, connecting with senior Lennon Gieder — who is enjoying a big postseason for the team — on a 20-yard score to reestablish a two-TD advantage before the break.
Midway through the third quarter, Lemke and the Tigers struck again when the dynamic quarterback connected with Dayquan Dunn on a 30-yard TD pass.
The junior standout added a 16-yard TD run late in the game before the reliable boot of Paul VandenBranden kicked his fifth PAT on five attempts to close out the scoring.
The loss was the first of the season for the Warriors, who close out the year 12-1.
The Tigers, meanwhile, improved to 13-1 as they look to become the fourth H-DNL school to win a state championship in football, following the success of St. Bernard’s (2015 and 2019), Fortuna (2017) and Ferndale (2023).
Portola edged King Drew 35-34 in the Southern Regional championship on Friday night.
The Division 6-AA state championship game will take place at Fullerton UHSD Stadium next Saturday night with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
