Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s Crusaders and Ferndale Wildcats continue to play leapfrog with each other in the MaxPreps North Coast Section rankings.

This week, the Crusaders (5-0) have moved ahead of their rivals after jumping eight spots to No. 23 overall after a big win over the Eureka Loggers last weekend.

The Wildcats, who are also coming off a big win at Hoopa, move up one spot to No. 27.

The MaxPreps rankings are based heavily on strength of schedule, and the fact the Crusaders compete in the Big 4 helps their cause in the rankings.

SB also leapfrogged the Cats in the Division-7 rankings, moving up two spots to No. 2, while the Cats remain steady at No. 3.

St. Vincent de Paul (5-0) remains No. 1 in Division 7, while last week’s No. 2, Salesian (5-0), drops to No. 4 despite a 51-8 win over Ygnacio Valley.

The Fortuna Huskies (2-3) also make a move in the right direction this week after their dominating win over Del Norte (3-2).

The Huskies, who have won two straight games, jumped five spots to No. 45 and moved up two spots to No. 3 in Division 6.

The Arcata Tigers (2-3), who are coming off a big win at McKinleyville, also moved up four spots to No. 51 overall and one spot to No. 6 in Division 4.

The Del Norte Warriors are the next highest-ranked local team, dropping four spots to No. 52 overall and remaining steady at No. 4 in Division 6.

The Eureka Loggers (1-4), meanwhile, have lost four straight games and fall two spots for the second straight week.

Eureka, which has had to battle a ton of injuries this fall, is now No. 68 overall and dropped one spot to No. 7 in Division 5.

Rounding out the local rankings, McKinleyville (2-3) drops four spots to No. 83 overall, Hoopa (1-4) drops two spots to No. 92 and South Fork (3-1) remains steady at No. 2 in the eight-person Division 1 rankings.

McKinleyville is also No. 10 in Division 6 and Hoopa is No. 12 in Division 7.