Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Dang Le in action for St. Bernard’s against Ferndale on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — This past week saw four local teams crowned conference champs in H-DNL boys and girls basketball, including two outright, but the race for the Dick Niclai tournament berths in all four conferences remains up in the air heading into the final week of the regular season.

It was an up-and-down week for the St. Bernard’s boys, who claimed at least a co-championship in the Little 4.

The Crusaders lost for the first time since early December last Saturday night at Eureka, but that seemed to reignite the players, who came storming out of the gates with one of their most impressive team performances of the season against Ferndale on Friday night.

They followed that with a 79-54 win at Arcata on Saturday, in a game that saw Liam Dyer explode for 52 points.

They remain the highest-ranked local team in the North Coast Section, coming in at No. 23.

They are also No. 2 in the NCS in Division 5 and No. 4 among D-5 programs in all of California, while holding steady at No. 1 in this week’s Humboldt Sports Power Rankings.

It was an historic week for the McKinleyville boys, who clinched a first-ever outright Big 5 championship with a win over Fortuna on their home court on Friday night.

That not only secures a top seed for the Dick Niclai tournament, but also will give them some momentum heading into the H-DNL postseason tournament as they try to make it back-to-back Niclai titles.

For good measure, the Panthers also move up nine spots in the NCS rankings to No. 35, while remaining steady at No 2 in our Power Rankings for the fifth straight week

One team that does appear to be peaking at the right time and finding its groove as we head towards the postseason is Arcata, despite Saturday’s loss.

The Tigers have won three straight Big 5 games and the worst they can do now is tie for second.

Their recent good run also sees them move up in the NCS rankings for the third straight week, coming in at No. 80 this week, and they are No. 3 in the Humboldt Sports Power Rankings.

Del Norte, meanwhile, is No. 4 in our rankings after a quality win over Eureka on Friday — their third in four games with the Loggers this winter — with arguably their most balanced team performance of the year.

That win inched them closer to a Niclai berth.

The Warriors, however, did drop four spots in the NCS rankings to No. 68, which might actually help them when the playoff brackets are released in two weeks.

But they are still the third-highest ranked local team in the section, trailing only St. Bernard’s and McKinleyville.

No. 5 in our Power Rankings is Eureka, which posted impressive wins over SB and Shasta before Friday’s loss at Del Norte.

The Loggers made a nice jump in the NCS rankings after their win over St. Bernard’s, jumping 10 spots to No. 71.

Also in the NCS, Hoopa remains steady at No. 107, while South Fork made the biggest jump of any local team, moving up 11 spots to No. 114.

Fortuna is just three spots back at No. 117, followed by Ferndale at No. 131.

In addition to St. Bernard’s, the Wildcats and Panthers are the only other H-DNL teams ranked in the top eight in their division.

Ferndale is No. 7 in Division 6, while McKinleyville is No. 8 in Division 4.

Del Norte is No. 14 in Division 3, one spot ahead of No. 15 Eureka, which in turn is one spot ahead of No. 16 Arcata.

Hoopa is also No. 17 in Division 5.

POWER RANKINGS

1 — St. Bernard’s (20-2)

Last weekend’s loss aside, SB is still the best team in the H-DNL

2 — McKinleyville (17-7)

The Panthers are outright Big 5 champs for the first time

3 — Arcata (10-14)

The Tigers have gotten their playoff hopes back on track

4 — Del Norte (16-9)

The Warriors have won three of four games against Eureka this season

5 — Eureka (13-11)

The Loggers jumped 10 places in the NCS rankings to No. 71