Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The Ferndale Wildcats were the best football team in the H-DNL in week one, and they remain the best heading into this year’s playoff openers.

The Cats led wire to wire in our weekly rankings and closed out the regular season with a record of 10-0, their first perfect campaign since 2009.

They also clinched the Little 4 championship outright with another comfortable win last weekend, beating Arcata 48-6.

And while Ferndale fans might be a little frustrated with their placement in the Division-5 bracket for the North Coast Section postseason and the fact they’ve been moved up two divisions, the real concern should be for the other teams in the bracket, including top seed St. Vincent de Paul.

Ferndale opens the postseason at home against No, 7 Arroyo at Coach Carlson Wildcat Field on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Arroyo has 10 times the student population of Ferndale.

Big 4 co-champs St. Bernard’s and Fortuna, meanwhile, remain tied at No. 2 in our rankings for the second straight week.

Both schools closed out the regular season with impressive wins last week, with the Huskies dominating Eureka 39-0 on Friday night and the Crusaders beating Del Norte 35-21 on Saturday afternoon.

St. Bernard’s has been No. 2 for nine straight weeks, while Fortuna has gradually climbed after an 0-3 start to the season.

Since then, the Huskies have won six of seven games and they will carry a lot of momentum into the NCS playoffs.

Both co-champs are included in the Division-6 bracket for the postseason, with SB receiving the No. 1 seed and Fortuna No. 4.

If they both win their postseason openers this weekend, they would face off in a semifinal next week, which would be huge for local fans.

South Fork is the only other local team to qualify for the playoffs and will host Cornerstone Christian on Friday night.

Del Norte and Arcata both finished 5-5 but will not advance to the playoffs, nor will McKinleyville (3-7), Hoopa (2-8) or Eureka (1-9).

POWER RANKINGS 

1 — Ferndale (10-0)

The Cats won’t fear anyone in the Division-5 bracket

2T — St. Bernard’s (9-1)

The Crusaders will host all the way in the NCS, providing they keep winning

2T — Fortuna (6-4)

A dangerous Huskies team has won six of its last seven games

4 — Del Norte (5-5)

With just two wins in their final six games, the Warriors did not make the NCS playoffs

5 — Arcata (5-5)

The Tigers finished second in this year’s Little 4