Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Lane Thrap and the St. Bernard’s Crusaders will host the Eureka Loggers on Saturday.

The big showdown at Crusader Field highlights the local football action this weekend, but it’s far from the only game in town.

On Friday night at Fortuna, the Huskies will try to build on last weekend’s big win at Eureka when they host Del Norte with the Big 4 lead on the line.

At Ferndale, the Wildcats will try to secure their first outright league crown in seven years when they host Hoopa on Saturday afternoon, while McKinleyville and Arcata will meet for the second time at the Redwood Bowl on Friday night.

And rounding out a busy weekend of games, the South Fork Cubs will try to complete a third straight undefeated league campaign when they travel to play winless Potter Valley.

FRIDAY

South Fork (3-0, 5-2) at Potter Valley (0-3, 0-5), 7 p.m.

A young Cubs team is an impressive 5-2 this season and quickly maturing.

They are also unbeaten in the NCL-III since they switched to eight person football three years ago and will be looking to continue that in their league finale this weekend.

Alex Harding has been outstanding for the Cubs this year, while head coach Karl Terrell has also been getting big contributions from Sean Hassall-Hoss and Ian Burton.

McKinleyville (0-4, 1-7) at Arcata (2-2, 4-4), at the Redwood Bowl, 7:30 p.m.

The Tigers will be looking to keep their slim league hopes alive, although they’ll need a surging Ferndale team to suddenly fall flat and that’s unlikely.

The Tigers, however, still have plenty to play for as they look to qualify for the NCS Division-6 playoffs.

They’ll likely need to win their final two games against Mack and Hoopa to do so, which means there’ll be plenty on the line at the Redwood Bowl on Friday.

Del Norte (1-0, 7-1) at Fortuna (1-0, 3-5), 7:30 p.m.

The Big 4 lead will be up for grabs at Fortuna on Friday night, with the winner clinching at least a share of the title.

Both teams will have plenty of confidence heading into this one.

The Warriors have been the best team on the North Coast all season, while the Huskies pulled out a thrilling season-changing win at Eureka last weekend and are among the most improved teams in the H-DNL over the past month.

The Warriors won a non-league showdown between these two, 29-13, in September, but the Huskies are at home this time around and much improved.

Check out Daeden Taylor’s TD and two-point run against the Loggers last week.

SATURDAY

Eureka (0-1, 3-5) at St. Bernard’s (0-1, 6-2), 1 p.m.

The crosstown rivals meet for the second straight season in a pivotal Big 4 game for both.

The loser will see any chances of a league crown disappear, while both will be eager to win to bolster their playoff hopes.

For more on this game, log on to HumboldtSports.com on Friday.

Hoopa (2-2, 3-4) at Ferndale (4-0, 6-2), 1 p.m.

A win for the Wildcats will give them the Little 4 championship outright after they clinched at least a share of it with a comfortable win over a mistake prone Arcata a week ago.

Hoopa won’t back down from the challenge and have an improving running game to go with the best passing offense in the Little 4.

Will that be enough to derail a Ferndale team that has won six of its last seven games? 

The Cats are balanced. They can run the ball, they can pass the ball. They can stop the run, they can stop the pass.

###

Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.