By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL football teams resume league play this week as we head into the final three weekends of the regular season.
And at least a share of both the Pacific League and Redwood League titles will be up for grabs at three different locations.
Redwood League leaders Ferndale (7-0 overall, 1-0 in league) and McKinleyville (5-2, 1-0) will face off on Friday night in Mack Town and the winner of that game will be crowned at least co-champion.
The Wildcats continued to roll over the weekend, beating Del Norte 27-7 for their 20th consecutive regular-season win.
The Panthers, who are enjoying a breakthrough campaign, fell to St. Bernard’s on Saturday (45-20), which was just their second loss of the season.
Game time on Friday night is set for 7:30 pm.
Also on Friday, Fortuna (6-1, 1-0) travels to the newly-renovated Albee Stadium to play the Eureka Loggers (2-5, 0-1) on their all-turf field, while Arcata (0-7, 0-1) plays at Hoopa (1-6, 0-1) in a matchup of two teams that have struggled this season.
The Huskies are one of the hottest teams in the H-DNL right now and are coming off a 42-0 win over Hoopa, which was the team’s fourth straight.
The Loggers were also victorious over the weekend, as they ended a three-game losing streak with a 22-6 win at Arcata.
A win for Fortuna on Friday night would clinch a share of the league title for the third time in four years, but the Huskies naturally will be hoping to win it outright this fall.
A win for the Loggers, meanwhile, would catapult them right back into the championship conversation.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Something has to give in the game at Hoopa.
The Tigers have struggled more than any other H-DNL team this fall and have managed just 20 points all season while being shut out in four of their seven games.
The Warriors do have a win to their credit, but it came over a month ago at Healdsburg, and they have also struggled to put points on the board in recent weeks, scoring just 12 points combined in their five-game losing streak.
That game kicks off at 6:30 p.m.
The most anticipated game of the weekend, meanwhile, will take place on Saturday afternoon at St. Bernard’s (5-2, 0-1), as the Del Norte Warriors (3-4, 1-0) travel to Crusader Field for what has become one of the most intriguing annual matchups of the fall in the H-DNL.
The Crusaders got back to winning ways against McKinleyville this past weekend, ending a two-game skid with a comfortable 25-point win over the resurgent Panthers.
The Warriors, on the other hand, saw a three-game winning streak end at Ferndale on Saturday afternoon.
There’s plenty at stake in this matchup between two teams that each have won two league titles in the past three seasons, with kickoff set for 2 p.m.
Rounding out a busy weekend of local action, the South Fork Cubs (5-2, 1-1) will travel to Crockett near Vallejo to play Swett (3-4, 0-2) in eight-player football on Friday afternoon as they look to put a tough loss behind them.
This past weekend, the Cubs fell 68-6 to Priory, while the Warriors, who have lost two straight and three of four, fell 20-18 to Elsie Allen.
Friday’s game is set for 4:30 p.m.
