Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Ferndale Wildcats have incredibly outscored their first five opponents by a combined 299-0.

By Ray Hamill — The gap appears to be widening.

The top two teams in the weekly Humboldt Sports Power Rankings both continued to roll last weekend, suggesting there now is a sizable gap between them and the rest of the H-DNL.

A Saturday matchup between No. 3 Fortuna and No. 2 St. Bernard’s could alter that perspective, but thus far no teams have come close to derailing the top two, who remain steady for the fourth straight week.

Ferndale is a clear No. 1 and the big question local fans are now asking is will anyone even score on them between now and the end of the regular season?

Last weekend, the Wildcats cruised to another dominating victory in their Little 4 opener at Hoopa, dominating the Warriors 73-0.

They have not just won their opening five games, but incredibly have now outscored those five teams by a combined 299-0 and none of their opponents have really even come close to scoring.

And it’s not as if the Wildcats are trying to run up the scores.

The smallest school in H-DNL football has 16 players available, so even late in games they still have to field mostly starters.

Their remaining five games include a rematch with Hoopa, as well as two games each against McKinleyville and Arcata, and their three conference opponents all currently have losing records and are a combined 5-10.

The Tigers, who are scoring 37.2 points a game, appear the most likely to end that incredible run by the Ferndale defense, but with the way the Cats are dominating on that side of the ball, I wouldn’t be so sure even they can, although dynamic Arcata QB Luke Lemke should test them with his scrambling ability.

The No. 2 Crusaders haven’t been quite as dominating, but they’re still playing at a very high level and continue to look like the best team in the Big 4.

St. Bernard’s, which is coming off a big 43-6 win in a dominating performance against Eureka and has yet to be really challenged, has outscored its first five opponents by a combined 204-26.

Ferndale and St. Bernard’s have now occupied the Nos. 1 and 2 spots for four straight weeks, with Ferndale a firm No. 1 for the seventh straight week, dating back to the first rankings of the year.

The one team that makes a move in the right direction this week is Fortuna.

The Huskies dominated Del Norte in their conference opener last week, and with two straight wins under their belt they will carry some momentum into this week’s big showdown at SB.

Rounding out this week’s Power Rankings are three teams that have largely disappointed this year, No. 4 Del Norte and Nos. 5 Eureka and Arcata.

Judging by their conference openers, neither the Warriors nor Loggers look capable of challenging for a Big 4 crown, at least not right now.

Arcata does have a nice win over Del Norte on its resume, but the Tigers’ defense has been poor for most of the season and is giving up way too many points (44 a game).

The Tigers also lost heavily to Eureka earlier in the campaign.

POWER RANKINGS

1 — Ferndale (5-0)

The Wildcats have been completely unstoppable thus far

2 — St. Bernard’s (5-0)

The Crusaders still look like the team to beat in the Big 4

3 — Fortuna (2-3)

The Huskies are building some momentum with two straight wins

4 — Del Norte (3-2)

The Warriors are 0-2 against top five teams

5T — Eureka (1-4)

The Loggers have had to battle a ton of injuries and have lost four straight

5T — Arcata (2-3)

The Tigers have won two of four since losing to Eureka, but their defense is a concern