By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL teams will begin playing each other this weekend, as a new-look schedule for the league teams kicks in this year.
This season all eight teams in the Pacific and Redwood Leagues will play each other once each, although only games against the other schools in their respective leagues will count in the race for the league championships.
The action gets under way on Thursday night, when the Hoopa Warriors will finally get the chance to play in front of a home crowd.
The “Road Warriors” had to travel for their first three games, including a tough 48-0 loss at Archie Williams over the weekend.
Things won’t get any easier for the Redwood League school going up against a St. Bernard’s team that could be the best team in the H-DNL this fall.
The Crusaders (3-0) are one of three local teams still perfect on the season after an impressive 46-0 win over Sacred Heart Academy in Michigan last week.
And they have shown steady improvement in each of their three wins thus far.
Thursday’s game is set for 7 p.m.
The local action continues on Friday night with three more games on tap.
The Eureka Loggers (1-2) will host the Ferndale Wildcats (3-0), as they look to build on the breakthrough win their posted 10 days ago.
The Loggers, who had a bye this past weekend, rallied late to beat Marshfield to end an 11-game losing streak.
But like Hoopa, they will have their hands full going up against a Ferndale team that has been setting the standard here on the North Coast for the past two seasons, including a perfect start to this season.
The Cats traveled to play Fall River over the weekend and came away with a 52-0 win, which remarkably was their 10th shutout in their past 13 regular season games.
This week’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be played at the Redwood Bowl, before the Loggers will finally debut at the newly-renovated Albee Stadium against McKinleyville on Homecoming night next week.
Also on Friday night, the impressive McKinleyville Panthers (3-0) will host Fortuna (2-1) as they look to continue their best start to a season since 1989.
But they also will have their hands full going up against a Fortuna team that has looked like one of the most impressive in the H-DNL through the early going despite a loss to Ukiah 10 days ago.
Both McKinleyville and Fortuna had byes this past weekend.
That game is also set for 7:30 p.m.
And rounding out a busy Friday night for the H-DNL teams, Arcata (0-3) and Del Norte (0-3) will face off in Crescent City as each school looks for its first win of the season.
Arcata has been shut out in all three of its games so far and is coming off a 47-0 loss at St. Vincent de Paul on Saturday.
The Warriors, meanwhile, are 0-3 for the first time in 16 years and are coming off a bye.
Friday’s game kicks off at 6 p.m.
Also in action this week, the South Fork Cubs will travel to play Calistoga in eight-player football.
The Cubs are 2-1 after a huge 94-12 win over Elite, while Calistoga is 1-1 after a 40-8 win over Elsie Allen.
Thursday night’s game is set for 6 p.m.
