A duel between the two best HDNL teams occurred Saturday afternoon and did not favor the Tigers.
“Ferndale played a great game,” Head Coach Matt Magers said. “They made plays when we didn’t.”
When Arcata and Ferndale last were matched up, the Tigers outplayed the Wildcats 35-7, but the Wildcats were able to take revenge and defeat the Tigers 27-21. Arcata and Ferndale are Co-league champions of the Little 4, both sharing a 9-1 record.
“We came out flat,” Junior Luke Lemke said. “[We were] thinking the game was going to be similar to how it was last time, but footballs a crazy sport.”
Neither team could spark the scoring until late into the first quarter. Ferndale had pushed themselves into the endzone, giving themself a 7-0 margin.
The Tigers wouldn’t let the Wildcats hold that lead for long. On the 37-yard line, the always-electric Lemke found Senior Dayquan Dunn to put the Tigers on the board, and with a good kick from Senior Paul VadenBraden, the Tigers were able to tie the Wildcats 7-7.
The score stayed the same until the last two minutes of the second quarter when the Tigers found themselves struggling more than ever. Ferndale added another touchdown, and when Arcata got the ball back, a fumble gave the possession right back to Ferndale. Quickly after, a flag on the Tigers put the Wildcats in the red zone, and they extended their scoring margin by 19-7 at the end of the half.
“We only got three offensive possessions in the first half,” Lemke said. “You can’t do much with that.”
The third quarter was fairly quiet, except for a handful of flags, one of which resulted in a Ferndale touchdown being recalled, keeping the score 19-7 until the fourth.
Lemke was not letting fans give up on the Tigers just yet when he scored on a 5-yard run. An Arcata flag pushed back the Tigers on the kick, but the ever-reliable VadenBraden kicked the ball through the posts, putting the Tigers within five.
Similar to the Wildcats’ third touchdown, a flag on Arcata led to a Ferndale’s first and goal, where they ran the ball in and then completed the two-point conversion.
“Ferndales offense just marched on us,” Lemke said.
The clock was running low, but with about two minutes left in the game, Senior Jackson Strand intercepted the ball in Ferndales endzone to gain possession, and after a few plays, Lemke danced his way into the endzone yet again to cut the deficit 27-21.
Unfortunately, Arcata could not gain any more possessions with Ferndale running the clock out, and the Tigers were officially handed their first loss.
Arcata will quickly jump right back into action and have high hopes that their only loss this season will be from Ferndale.
“Were gonna win the championship,” Junior Lincoln Neuman said. “Then were gonna destroy Ferndale next year.”
The Tigers season isn’t over yet, they were placed in Division six for NCS playoffs, and received the first seed. They’ll host Bethel High School from Vallejo on Friday Night at McKinleyville High at 7 P.M. Bethel is seed eight in the bracket and are 3-7 overall.
“Now that we know what a loss feels like, I think everybodies really fired up, and excited to not feel that pain again,” Lemke said.
