By Ray Hamill — A showdown between the top two ranked eight-player programs in the North Coast Section and a rare game between two of the most physically imposing programs in the H-DNL highlight this week’s high school football action here on the North Coast.
All nine local high school programs will be in action, including four all-local non-league games, before the H-DNL schools resume league play next week.
There are three games scheduled for Friday night and two more on Saturday afternoon.
The action gets under way with two 6 p.m. games on Friday, including a huge showdown in Miranda between the top two ranked eight-player programs in the section.
No. 2 South Fork (5-1) will host No. 1 Priory (5-0) and both schools have been setting a high standard this year.
The Cubs are coming off another big win over the weekend after getting the better of Cornerstone Christian 78-36, while Priory continued to roll with a 51-6 win over Elsie Allen.
Also on Friday night, Arcata (0-6) will host Eureka (1-5) and Hoopa (1-5) travels to Fortuna (5-1).
The Tigers and Loggers have just one win combined.
The Tigers, who lost 28-7 at Ferndale in their league opener on Saturday, have struggled to score points and have been shut out in four of their six games, although they did get on the scoreboard against the top-ranked local team on Saturday.
The Loggers haven’t fared much better, with their lone win of the campaign coming in overtime against Marshfield a month ago.
They fell hard to Del Norte over the weekend, losing 48-6.
Friday’s matchup between these two rival schools is set for 6 p.m.
Also on Friday night, the Hoopa Warriors will be hoping to get back on track when they travel to Husky Field to face a Fortuna team that has not lost in over a month and is coming off a big 28-21 win over St. Bernard’s in their league opener on Thursday night.
Friday’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m.
The weekend action concludes with two more games on Saturday afternoon.
The St. Bernard’s Crusaders (4-2) will try to end a two-game losing streak when they host McKinleyville (5-1).
The Panthers have been one of the feel-good stories of the season here on the North Coast and posted a second straight win over the weekend, comfortably beating Hoopa 53-6 to join Ferndale atop the early Redwood League standings.
But they’ll face one of their biggest tests of the season against a Crusaders team that is one of the best teams in the area despite back-to-back losses to Ferndale and Fortuna.
Game time at Crusader Field is set for 2 p.m.
Also on Saturday afternoon, Ferndale (6-0) will host Del Norte (3-3) in the most intriguing game of the weekend and a clash of two physical teams that like to run the ball and wear their opponents down.
Both schools are coming off big wins over the weekend.
The Wildcats have not lost a regular season game in two years, while the Warriors have gotten their season back on track with three straight wins after dropping their first three games of the campaign.
Game time in Ferndale is also set for 2 p.m.
