BOYS POWER RANKINGS — Local team moves up to No. 1 in the state

By barstoolfanatics on January 30, 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s Crusaders

By Ray Hamill — On Thursday night, the St. Bernard’s Crusaders clinched at least a share of a second straight Little 4 championship with a 62-45 win at Ferndale.

The victory lifted the Crusaders to 4-0 in conference action and they remain two wins clear of the chasing pack with two games remaining.

Just as impressive for the SB boys this week, they have moved up one spot to No. 1 in the state Division-6 rankings, according to MaxPreps, leapfrogging Redding Christian despite losing twice to the Lions this season.

The Crusaders are 16-4 and have now won 14 of their last 16 games.

They are also obviously the No. 1 ranked D-6 school in the North Coast Section, the only top-ranked team in the H-DNL.

The Arcata Tigers, who lead the Big 5, are the highest ranked local school overall in the NCS, coming in at No. 26 this week, up three spots from last week.

The next highest-ranked local team is McKinleyville, which is No. 37 overall in the NCS, followed by No. 50 St. Bernard’s and No. 51 Eureka.

Only four local teams are ranked in the top-eight in their respective NCS divisions.

In addition to St. Bernard’s (No. 1 in D-6), Ferndale is No. 6 in the same division, Arcata is No. 7 in Division 3 and McKinleyville is No. 8 in Division 4.

Hoopa is also No. 10 in Division 5, as is Eureka in Division 3.

Rounding out the H-DNL boys teams, South Fork is No. 14 in Division 5, Del Norte is No. 16 in D-3 and Fortuna is No. 18 in D-4.

This week’s Humboldt Sports Power rankings remain the same as a week ago.

The Tigers, who play the Panthers in a a pivotal matchup at McKinleyville next week, remain No. 1 for the fifth straight week, followed at No. 2 by the Panthers, who remain in the chase for the Big 5 title with two games remaining.

The St. Bernard’s boys, who should challenge the Big 5 frontrunners for this year’s Dick Niclai tournament title, are No. 3, with No. 4 Eureka and No. 5 Del Norte rounding out the top five.