Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — It’s been a good season for the Arcata Tigers and a particularly good week for the team

On Tuesday night, the Arcata boys traveled to McKinleyville to play their close neighbors and big rivals and they won 56-47 to clinch the Big 5 championship outright.

They followed that with a 72-56 win at Eureka in their regular-season finale two nights later, which was their ninth straight win.

The Arcata boys have been a clear No. 1 among local teams for most of the winter and they backed that with a perfect 8-0 run through conference play.

They will go into next week’s Dick Niclai tournament as the favorites to take home the coveted trophy for the second straight year.

And because of all of that they remain a firm No. 1 in the Humboldt Sports Power Rankings for the sixth time in six rankings this season.

Elsewhere in their week’s Power Rankings, for the third straight week there are no changes.

Despite their loss to Arcata on Tuesday night, the McKinleyville Panthers stay at No. 2.

The impressive Panthers have lost just three of their last 14 games, twice to Arcata and once to Enterprise, the No. 8 ranked team out of 57 schools in the Northern Section, according to MaxPreps.

The Panthers will be hoping for another shot at the Tigers in next week’s Dick Niclai tournament — especially with an extra-motivated Cole Armstrong back in there lineup — providing they can get the better of Eureka in the opening round and St. Bernard’s in the semifinals.

And speaking of the Crusaders, they remain No. 3 in this week’s Power Rankings, after completing a perfect run through the Little 4.

And don’t count out the SB boys in the Niclai tournament.

They will be a tough ask for whoever they meet along the way as they look to qualify for a second straight Niclai final.

Rounding out this week’s top five are Eureka and Del Norte.

The Loggers will also like their chances of winning next week’s prestigious tournament and have been competitive in most of their games against H-DNL opposition this winter.

The Warriors, meanwhile, will have a week off before the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs tip off in 10 days.

POWER RANKINGS

1 — Arcata (19-5)

The Tigers are heavy favorites to win a second straight Niclai tournament

2 — McKinleyville (18-8)

The Panthers will relish another crack at Arcata with all of their key players available

3 — St. Bernard’s (19-4)

Don’t count out the Crusaders next week

4 — Eureka (17-9)

The Loggers also should be in the mix for the Niclai tournament

5 — Del Norte (14-11)

The Warriors closed out the regular season with a nice win against Fortuna