Getting the better of St. Bernard’s a week ago was nice. Getting the better of Arcata this weekend was more important.
On Saturday afternoon, the Ferndale Wildcats welcomed the Tigers to the Cream City for both schools’ Redwood League opener, and the home team prevailed 28-7 to join McKinleyville atop the early league standings.
And the Cats continued to play well in all phases of the game, scoring three first-half touchdowns to take control of the game and coming up with three fourth-quarter interceptions to help seal the win.
“Your league opponents are very important, that’s what ultimately can punch your ticket to a home playoff game,” Ferndale head coach Clint McClurg said. “That’s our No. 1 goal. (The game) was important for us.”
These two schools have played some highly-entertaining games in recent years while battling each other for the league title, and each has won a state championship within the past four years.
And despite the Tigers’ struggles this season — they came into Saturday’s game with a record of 0-5, including four shutouts — McClurg was expecting a tough battle from an opponent that knows his program well.
And while it was never uncomfortable for the home team, the visitors refused to go down easily while showcasing plenty of improvement.
“Arcata came ready to play four quarters of football, and we expect nothing less from the Arcata Tigers,” McClurg said. “Arcata’s getting better, and they’ve played some really good teams.”
So too are the Cats, who improved to 1-0 in league play and 6-0 on the season and are the last remaining unbeaten team in the H-DNL.
And realistically they never appeared in danger of losing this one.
Once again, the Cats drove the ball effectively behind another good performance by the offensive line, while the team defense gave up just seven points, and any time you can hold a school eight times your size to a single touchdown, it’s a good day at the office.
All four of Ferndale’s touchdowns came on short runs after impressive drives.
Luke Dixon opened the scoring on a five-yard TD run in the first quarter, before the always dangerous Preston Killingsworth added two second-quarter TD runs, both also on short runs.
Those three scores, coupled with a two-point conversion run by Garyn McClurg on the second TD and a PAT by Christian Enriquez, put the home team up 21-0 and in control well before halftime,
However, the Tigers would remain in contention after a short TD run by Ryall Furber, and they cut the deficit to 14 (21-7) at the break.
Garyn McClurg would stretch the advantage back out to three TDs in the third quarter and that would prove to be more than enough for a Ferndale defense that intercepted the ball three times in the fourth — twice by Killingsworth and once by Cade Renner — to help ice the win.
The Cats also overcame the distractions of Homecoming week on the way to victory.
“I do think that the most impressive element was to kind of understand there can be a lot in Homecoming week that can lead to distractions, and to be able to balance out the festivities with the game itself,” Clint McClurg said. “And I thought that our student athletes did a good job of that, and I was proud of them.”
Several players stood out in the win, including the offensive line, which continues to set a physical tone and wear down its opponents.
So too did multiple linebackers, much as they have been doing all season, including George Bibby, who has hardly set a foot wrong since returning to the lineup a few weeks ago after missing the early part of the season through injury.
“He plays downhill, he plays physical,” Clint McClurg said of the middle linebacker.
With some key injuries right now to Liam Bishop and Rigel Hahner — both of whom remain week to week but are expected back soon — Kelton Braud moved to inside linebacker and Colton Renner stepped up at outside linebacker, and both enjoyed good afternoons, taking full advantage of the extra playing tine.
The Ferndale secondary, according to the coach, also stepped up.
“Our defense only gave up seven points, and that’s a quality performance against a quality opponent,” Clint McClurg said.
Greyson Mathews, who is enjoying a big season on the offensive line, played a more prominent role on the defensive side of the ball and also did a good job.
The win stretched the team’s regular-season winning streak to 19 straight, dating back almost two years.
The last team to beat them during the regular season was the Tigers on Oct. 18, 2024.
With the loss, Arcata dropped to 0-6.
