By Ray Hamill — Week one of the new high school football season is in the books, with six of the nine local varsity programs kicking off over the weekend.
And it was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the local schools, with three posting impressive victories and three suffering disappointing losses.
Three more league schools will kick off their 2026 campaigns this week, including the South Fork Cubs, who will get the weekend action under way on Thursday night.
The Cubs, who welcome back longtime head coach Karl Terrell after one year away, open against the California School for the Deaf in an eight-player showdown in Miranda.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and the Eagles will also be playing their first game of the year.
Seven other local teams will also be in action this week, along with College of the Redwoods, which is coming off an impressive season opening victory at San Jose City College.
Ferndale (1-0) is the only local team that won’t be playing, as the Wildcats get set for a bye one week after a nice 31-6 win at Anderson.
Six of the seven local high school programs will play on Friday night, with two of them playing at home.
With new head coach Matt Jioras on the sideline, the Arcata Tigers will kick off the new season against Ukiah at McKinleyville High School.
The Wildcats enjoyed a high-scoring season opener at home to Orland, winning 50-14.
Also on Friday night, the McKinleyville Panthers will try to make it two straight wins after their comeback 8-7 victory over Cloverdale over the weekend.
The 1-0 Panthers will hit the road and travel to play Fort Bragg, which is 1-0 after a 12-5 win over Willits on opening weekend.
One of the most impressive opening-weekend performances in the H-DNL was Fortuna’s 41-6 win over St. Helena and the Huskies will try to keep their fast start going when they play at perennial playoff contenders University Prep in Redding.
The Panthers are also 1-0 after a 21-7 win over North Valleys in their opener.
The Eureka Loggers will be hoping to put a disappointing 41-0 loss to Windsor behind them when they travel to play Shasta, which is 1-0 after a 23-21 win over Lassen.
The Hoopa Warriors also suffered a disappointing opener, falling 42-16 at Trinity and they will try to bounce back at Healdsburg, which is 0-1 after a 34-0 loss at Washington.
Rounding out the local contingent of teams playing on Friday night, the Del Norte Warriors will try to get their first win of the season when Ashland travels to Crescent City.
The Warriors fell 34-20 at Oakland in their opener, while the Grizzles are also 0-1 after losing they opener at Roseburg, 18-7.
All of Friday night’s varsity games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The Game of the Week here on the North Coast will take place on Saturday when the St. Bernard’s Crusaders kick off the new season at home against perennial North Coast Section powerhouse St. Vincent de Paul.
The Mustangs are 1-0 after opening with a dominating 40-0 win over Mesa Verde over the weekend.
Saturday afternoon’s game starts at 2 p.m.
College of the Redwoods, meanwhile, will play its home opener against Reedley, one week after a dominating opener at San Jose, which CR won 41-21.
That game will take place at the Redwood Bowl, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.
