By Ray Hamill — Two schools that have combined to win the past six Pacific League (formerly Big 4) championships in football will play at Husky Field on Friday night.
And no surprise to see the league title up for grabs when they do once again.
The Warriors won three consecutive league championships outright between 2019 and 2022, and followed that with a shared title in 2023 and another outright crown in 2024, giving the Crescent City school five straight league titles.
They shared the ’23 title with both Fortuna and St. Bernard’s, with the latter two then sharing the championship again 12 months ago, finally ending Del Norte’s long stranglehold on the league.
(there was no league title awarded for the 2020 season because of COVID-19.)
The Huskies are 2-0 in league play this year and have already clinched at least a share of the Pacific League pennant, a championship they can claim outright with a win on Friday night.
But don’t count out a Del Norte team that has made a habit of playing its best football in league.
The Warriors are 1-1 in the Pacific League this year after posting a victory over Eureka and losing to St. Bernard’s, and they remain in the championship chase heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
The big question for the Warriors is can they overcome one of the best teams in the area on the road in a championship showdown that the home crowd will be up for?
The good news for the Warriors is the fact they are coming off their most impressive performance of the year last week, when they beat a resurgent McKinleyville team that was coming off its biggest win in years.
If the Warriors can carry that momentum into this weekend’s game, they should challenge a Huskies team that is coming off its most disappointing performance of the year in last week’s Milk Can rivalry game.
The big question for the Huskies is how will the players and coaches respond after last week’s disappointment, and as I’ve said before a single loss does not define a season but how the players respond to it often does.
I expect the Huskies to respond with a determined performance, and that could be bad news for the visitors.
Immediately after last weekend’s Milk Can loss, Fortuna head head coach Mike Benbow was already looking ahead to this week’s matchup, which — Eel River Valley bragging rights aside — is a more important game for the Huskies.
“We have a championship game next weekend, and that’s what we’re focused on,” Benbow said at the time. “Right now, we’re all about winning league and getting in the playoffs and making a run.”
By clinching the Pacific League title they would not only secure the league’s automatic berth for the upcoming NCS playoffs but also a probable home game, although that would depend on whether or not they get to play a higher-seeded league champion in the opening round.
Either way, winning the league title outright should be motivation enough for the home team this Friday night.
These are also two programs that know each other about as well as any others in the H-DNL and two schools that have faced off 18 times over the past 10 years, almost twice a season.
And during that time, they are both 9-9 against each other.
The Huskies have enjoyed the better of the recent matchups, including winning both games last year by scores of 31-14 and 28-14 and four of the last five.
Before that, it was the Warriors who had dominated for a few years, winning three straight and five of six between 2019 and 2022.
Friday night’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m.
