Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Ferndale Wildcats will host the Eureka Loggers on Saturday afternoon.

By Ray Hamill — With conference play set to kick off next week for all nine local varsity teams, this weekend will be a relatively quiet one for North Coast football fans.

Three schools have byes, giving them some extra time to focus on their conference openers, while six others will be in action.

The highlight game of the weekend sees the Eureka Loggers (1-2) head to Ferndale to play the Wildcats (3-0) for the first time since 2012.

The Cats won that game 20-0 and would go on to win a North Coast Section championship that year.

And they’ll be favorites to win again this weekend after a dominating start to this season that has seen them shut out their first three opponents while scoring 168 points.

Last week, Ferndale cruised to a comfortable 49-0 victory in their annual Milk Can showdown against Fortuna.

The Loggers, meanwhile, are coming off back-to-back losses and have not enjoyed a victory since beating Arcata 56-32 on opening weekend.

The schools’ JV teams will also face off, getting the day’s action under way at 11:30 a.m., before the varsity teams take the field at 2 p.m.

The Ferndale JVs, who were unable to complete last week’s Milk Can showdown because of lightning in the area, are 2-0, while the Eureka JVs, who shut out Novato 29-0 a week ago, are 2-0-1.

Also on Friday night, the Fortuna Huskies will try to bounce back from last week’s shutout loss when they host University Prep.

The Huskies are 0-3 after also dropping road games at St. Helena and Ukiah, while the Panthers are 1-3, including a 41-13 win over McKinleyville last week.

Friday night’s varsity game is set for 7:30 p.m.

The schools’ JV teams will also be in action at 5 p.m.

The Fortuna JVs are 1-1, while U Prep is 0-4, having been shut out in two of its games.

Also on Friday night, the South Fork Cubs will host Branson as they look to put last week’s big loss to a dominating Hayfork program behind them.

The Timberjacks stretched their remarkable winning streak to 29 straight with that win, while the Cubs dropped to 1-1.

South Fork, which competes in the eight-player North Central League III, kicks off conference play at Round Valley next week.

This weekend’s game is set for 6:30 p.m. and there will be no JV game.

Branson is 1-2 and is coming off a 56-14 loss to Fresno Christian.

Also on Friday night, Arcata (1-2) will host Oakland at McKinleyville High School, with the JVs playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity teams at 7.

On Saturday evening, meanwhile, the McKinleyville Panthers will try to put back-to-back losses behind them when they play at Cloverdale.

The Panthers, who broke a 21-game losing streak with a 28-6 win over Fort Bragg on opening weekend, are 1-2, while Cloverdale is also 1-2 and coming off back-to-back losses, including a 34-0 shutout at St. Helena last week.

The varsity game starts at 7 p.m., with the schools’ JV tams also playing at 5 p.m.

The Mack JVs are 2-1, including a 19-0 victory at U Prep last week, while the young Eagles are 1-2, including a 28-20 loss to St. Helena last week.

Hoopa, St. Bernard’s and Del Norte all have byes this weekend.

College of the Redwoods will also be in action this weekend, welcoming Monterey Peninsula to the Redwood Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

CR is 0-4 and coming off a 41-21 loss at Sequoias last week, while Monterey is 4-0, including a 41-14 win over Laney last week.

Saturday’s game kicks off at noon.