By Ray Hamill — It will be a quick turnaround for the St. Bernard’s Crusaders after their big weekend showdown against Ferndale, as they get set to open Pacific League play this week.
An exciting Saturday afternoon showdown against longtime rival Ferndale didn’t go the Crusaders way, as they fell 27-24, their first loss of the season.
But head coach Matt Tomlin and his players will have to quickly put that loss behind them as they get set to open league play on Thursday night against another rival program.
St. Bernard’s will travel to Fortuna to play the Huskies in the first Pacific League game of the fall (formerly the Big 4) and a showdown between two schools that have shared the league championship in two of the past three years.
Gas time on Thursday night is set for 7:30 p.m.
Both teams are 4-1 and two of the top three ranked local teams right now, trailing only the Ferndale Wildcats (5-0), who are the last remaining unbeaten H-DNL program.
While Del Norte (2-3) and Eureka (1-4) will believe they can challenge for this year’s Pacific League title, Thursday’s game will likely go a long way towards deciding the pennant in a matchup of two teams that have played like league frontrunners through the first half of the season.
The big showdown will kickstart another busy few days for the H-DNL schools, with all nine local programs in action.
That includes a pair of games on Friday ight.
The Loggers will try to get back on track after a disappointing overtime loss to McKinleyville on their return to Albee Stadium over the weekend, when they travel to Crescent City to play a resurgent Del Norte team.
After opening the campaign with three straight losses, the Warriors have now won back-to-back games, scoring 50 points in each to kickstart their season.
With only three league games for each of the Pacific League schools, this weekend’s winners will have the opportunity to play for at least a co-championship in their second league games.
The Redwood League teams also kick off conference play this weekend.
On Friday night, Hoopa (1-4) travels to the coast to play a McKinleyville team (4-1) that has enjoyed an outstanding first half of the season and looks like the biggest challenger to Ferndale for this year’s league title.
The Panthers will carry some momentum into the game after their big win at Eureka on Friday night, while the Warriors have struggled since posting their only win of the season at Healdsburg in early September and have been outscored 136-6 since then.
Both of Friday night’s games kick off at 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday, meanwhile, the high-flying Wildcats, who have now won 18 consecutive regular-season games, will try to make it 19 straight when they host a struggling Arcata team (0-5).
The Cats are red-hot favorites to win a third straight league title this fall, while the Tigers have been shut out in four of their five games and have scored just one touchdown all year.
Game time on Saturday is set for 2 p.m.
Rounding out a busy few days for the local contingent of teams, the South Fork Cubs (4-1) will try to keep their impressive season going when they host Cornerstone Christian (3-2) on Thursday night at 6 p.m.
Both schools feature in the top four in this week’s North Coast Section eight-player rankings.
The Cubs, who had a forfeit win over Roseland Prep over the weekend, are No. 2, behind No. 1 Priory, while Cornerstone is No. 4.
The Ferndale game this weekend starts at 1:00.