Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Arcata’s Luke Moxon

By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL boys teams are getting ready for the business end of the season, with conference play set to begin this coming week in both the Big 5 and Little 4.

The action gets under way on Wednesday night for the Big 5 teams and on Friday for the Little 4, and will run through early February for both conferences.

Both should be competitive, with multiple teams believing they can challenge for a championship as well as places in both the Dick Niclai tournaments and North Coast Section playoffs.

And with that in mind, there is little room for error for any team from here on.

According to the latest MaxPreps rankings, just four of the nine local varsity squads are currently ranked in the top eight in their respective divisions, although all nine still have a shot at qualifying for the section playoffs at the very least.

The St. Bernard’s Crusaders are ranked higher than any other other local team in their division, coming in at No. 2 in the D-6 bracket, trailing only No. 1 Point Arena.

The Crusaders are also the No. 3 ranked D-6 team in all of California.

A surging Hoopa team, which has won 10 of its last 11 games, is No. 6 in Division 5 in the NCS, and is ranked one spot ahead of the Crusaders in the overall NCS rankings at No. 58.

Eureka, meanwhile, is ranked No. 7 in Division 3 and is the highest ranked H-DNL team overall, coming in at No. 31, while Ferndale is also ranked No. 7 in the Division-7 field.

Arcata is the second highest ranked local team overall at No. 39, while Del Norte is No. 41 and McKinleyville is No. 49.

Arcata is also No. 9 in Division 3, one spot ahead of No. 10 Del Norte.

McKinleyville is No. 11 in Division 4, while South Fork is No. 12 in Division 5 and Fortuna is No. 19 in Division 4.

Once again, the second Humboldt Sports Power Rankings of the season differ slightly from the MaxPreps rankings.

The top five remain much as they were in our first rankings of the season two weeks ago, with Arcata No. 1, followed in order by Eureka, McKinleyville and Del Norte.

Hoopa remains at No. 5 this week, but is joined by Little 4 rival St. Bernard’s.

The Eureka Loggers

BOYS POWER RANKINGS

1 — Arcata (10-5)

The Tigers are battling injuries but should only improve as league play begins.

2 — Eureka (11-2)

The Loggers have won seven of their last eight games.

3 — McKinleyville (11-6)

The Panthers appear well capable of contending for this year’s Big 5.

4 — Del Norte (12-4)

The Warriors bounced back from two straight losses with a win over Lassen on Saturday.

5T — Hoopa (11-3)

The Hoopa boys could be the most improved team in the H-DNL this year.

5T — St. Bernard’s (9-3)

The Crusaders are building momentum with seven wins in their last eight games.