By Ray Hamill — It should be another fun weekend in H-DNL football with a pair of key matchups between top-five teams in our Power Rankings.

No. 1 Ferndale is showing no signs of slowing down after posting six straight shutouts to start the season and the Cats will look to continue that when they host No. 5 Arcata on Saturday afternoon.

These two schools have served up some epic encounters over the past two seasons, including two big second-half comebacks by the Tigers on their way to an unbeaten run through conference two years ago.

They followed that with a dominating 35-7 win in the first of two meetings last season, but a resilient Ferndale team would answer the call against the eventual 6-AA state champs in the rematch at Ferndale High on the final weekend of the regular season, winning 27-21 to share the Little 4 title and deny the Tigers a perfect campaign.

The loss to Arcata last season is one of only two for the Wildcats in their last 25 games dating back to October 2023, along with a loss to Moreau Catholic in the North Coast Section championship.

Interestingly, both of those losses came against eventual state champs.

The Wildcats, who have been on fire all season, will be favored to beat Arcata again this weekend, and the big question for most fans heading into the weekend showdown is whether the Tigers can become the first team to score on Ferndale this year.

A dominating Ferndale team put up over 70 points in each of its first two conference games (152 total), including 73 against Hoopa, a team that came very close to knocking off the Tigers last week.

The Wildcats remain at No. 1 in our Power Rankings for the eighth straight week dating back to the first rankings of the year, and I’m not sure anybody could argue that ranking at this stage.

St. Bernard’s, meanwhile, holds steady at No. 2 for the fifth straight week after a hard-fought 26-22 win over No. 3 Fortuna on Saturday.

Check out some second-half highlights from that game above …

That win lifted the Crusaders into sole possession of top spot in the conference standings, and a win at No. 4 Del Norte this weekend would put them in excellent position to potentially claim a first-ever outright Big 4 championship.

The Crusaders have had to battle a lot of injuries in the offensive backfield the past few weeks, but they keep finding solutions, with freshman Bryce Pancoast the latest to fill the void and impressing beyond his years behind a strong offensive line.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

But St. Bernard’s could be heavily tested in Crescent City this weekend, depending on which Warriors team shows up.

Del Norte has been the most inconsistent team in the entire H-DNL this fall and that inconsistency has carried over into conference play for the five-time defending Big 4 champs.

Two weeks ago, the Warriors disappointed against a fast-improving Fortuna team at Husky Field, but they responded with a much better performance at home to Eureka on their Homecoming night last weekend.

Home field will count for something this week, although it remains to be seen if that will be enough to carry the host school over the finish line against a St. Bernard’s team that is playing at a high level right now.

The Warriors can ill-afford another letdown on Friday night if they want to make it six straight Big 4 crowns.

POWER RANKINGS 

1 — Ferndale (6-0)

The Wildcats have now outscored their first six opponents 378-0

2 — St. Bernard’s (6-0)

The Crusaders are 2-0 and top of the standings in the Big 4

3 — Fortuna (2-4)

The Huskies pushed St. Bernard’s all the way on Saturday

4 — Del Norte (4-2)

Inconsistency has been a concern for the Warriors

5 — Arcata (3-3)

With back-to-back wins, the Tigers are building some momentum