Submitted photo – The Arcata boys and coaches celebrate their championship on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — Congratulations to the Arcata Tigers, who claimed a league double in soccer this week.

The Arcata girls clinched the Big 4 with a win over McKinleyville on Saturday, and the school’s boys team followed suit just four days later, clinching the H-DNL championship with a 1-1 tie at Fortuna on the final day of league play.

For the boys, it was the first league crown since 2022 and for the girls it was their first championship since 2021.

And that makes Arcata soccer our choice for Humboldt Sports Team of the Week.

Under the guidance of head coach John Davidson, the Arcata boys went undefeated in league play this year, including a key 3-1 win over Fortuna midway through the campaign that ultimately proved to be the difference in a tight race.

The Tigers closed out league play with a record of 9-0-3 (30 points), edging the 2024 league champion Huskies (9-1-2) by just one point.

That defeat at Arcata was the Huskies’ only loss of the fall thus far.

It’s been a great rivalry between these two schools in recent years and they may not be done just yet.

Both Arcata and Fortuna will now turn their attention towards the North Coast Section playoffs, which kick off next week.

The seedings for the NCS brackets will be released over the weekend and there’s a chance the two league rivals could face off again in the postseason.

Despite their league championship, the Tigers trail Fortuna in the MaxPreps rankings.

The Huskies are ranked No. 3 in Division-I, behind No. 1 Head Royce and No. 2 College Prep, while Arcata (12-2-5), which has two losses, is ranked No. 5.

In three season matchups against each other, Fortuna and Arcata each have one win, one loss and a tie.

The Tigers, however, closed out the stronger of the two on the way to clinching the league crown and they are unbeaten since a one-goal defeat to Fortuna in late August, a run of 15 straight games.

The Arcata girls also closed out their league campaign strong.

The Tigers dropped their league opener 2-1 to Eureka and tied their second game 3-3 with Fortuna.

But since then, they are unbeaten in seven straight conference games, including six wins.

Like the Arcata boys team, the girls will now turn their attention to the upcoming NCS postseason.

The Tigers are the No. 3 team in NCS fall soccer, according to MaxPreps, trailing No. 1 Ferndale and No. 2 Kelseyville.

They are also No. 2 in Division 1, trailing only Kelseyville, so they can expect a high seed for the playoffs.

Neither Arcata team has ever won a section championship, but that could change this year.

At the very least, both Arcata teams will carry some momentum into the playoffs after their impressive league campaigns.