By Ray Hamill — One of the benefits of the new-look H-DNL schedule this year is seeing every league program playing each other at least once this fall.
And because of that, North Coast football fans will get a rare opportunity to check out two of the most successful local high school programs in recent years on Saturday afternoon, when the Del Norte Warriors travel to Ferndale.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since opening weekend of the 2018 season, when the Warriors won 40-0 in Crescent City.
And that sets up an intriguing matchup between two physical programs that have ridden that physicality to plenty of success in recent years.
Neither program tries to hide what they do, but each does it so well opposing teams have a hard time stopping them.
Since that last meeting, Del Norte has not suffered a losing campaign while dominating in the Big 4 (now the Pacific League) and establishing the Warriors as one of the most consistently competitive programs in all of H-DNL sports.
The Wildcats have been up and down since that last meeting — although mostly up — but after back-to-back two-win seasons in 2021 and 2022 they have been almost unstoppable with three straight double-digit winning seasons.
And they’re well on track to make it four straight this fall.
In fact, the 2023 state champs have gone a combined 41-7 over the past three and a half seasons, including an impressive 19-game regular-season winning streak dating back almost two years to the day.
And only four of those seven loses have come against H-DNL teams, one to Fortuna (in 2023) and three to Arcata (two in 2023 and one in 2024).
The 6-0 Cats have continued to impress this year and they are the only remaining unbeaten team in the H-DNL.
The Warriors, meanwhile, have had an up-and-down season.
Since losing their opening three games of the campaign, they have won three straight, and even considering the level of competition they have faced over the last three games — Arcata, Hoopa and Eureka are a combined 2-16 — they will carry some momentum into Saturday’s big showdown in the Cream City.
They have two running backs who are playing with a lot of confidence right now — senior Max Borges and sophomore Levi Larch — who combined for their seven touchdowns in last week’s 48-6 win over Eureka, which was the teams’ 11th straight over the Loggers.
Larch racked up almost 200 yard rushing, and also scored on a long pick six, on his way to being this week’s Humboldt Sports Athlete of the Week.
But while the Warriors have gotten their ground game going in recent weeks, no local team has a bigger wealth of options in the offensive backfield than the Cats.
Preston Killingsworth is scoring multiple TDs every week, while Garyn McClurg is playing at an MVP level and there might not be a better running back on the North Coast right now.
He’s athletic, elusive and he can run you over.
Even without the injured Liam Bishop — another big-time playmaker for the Cats — they still have plenty of options in the backfield, including Cash Mobley, who has taken full advantage of his limited opportunities and is another back who is putting up some impressive stats when he touches the ball late in games.
The Cats also have a physical offensive line that has done an outstanding job of wearing down opponents as games progress, which has been the biggest factor in the team’s remarkable success over the past 13 months.
And the team defense hasn’t been too shabby either.
Since the start of the 2025 season, the Cats D has shut out 10 of its 16 regular-season opponents and has allowed more than 12 points just once in that run, at St. Bernard’s two weeks ago.
So the Warriors will have their hands full.
Both coaching staffs are also among the very best on the North Coast and have enjoyed plenty of postseason success.
Ferndale head coach Clint McClurg and his staff have won two North Coast Section titles in the past three seasons, as well as a state title in 2023.
White, meanwhile, led the Warriors to their only NCS title in 2019 and made it all the way to a state decider that season.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 2 p.m.
