Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Mike Whalen Field in Crescent City.
By Ray Hamill — The Del Norte Warriors insist Mike Whalen Field is good to go for this weekend’s state championship football game amid speculation on Monday that there could be a switch in venue.
The CIF has expressed concern to Del Norte High that the field conditions might not be suitable for such a high profile game, but Warriors head coach Nick White says that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It looks amazing,” White said of the field. “For this time of the year, it’s in the best shape it’s ever been.”
The Warriors will play El Monte High for the Division 5-AA title, and if the game is switched from Crescent City it would take place at Humboldt State’s Redwood Bowl and moved up from 6 p.m. to earlier the day, with St. Bernard’s also hosting a state bowl game there that evening.
The Warriors, however, don’t want to play in the Redwood Bowl, which is a 90-minute drive from Crescent City, and feel they have earned the right to play a first-ever state bowl game in Del Norte County.
The school took drone footage of the field on Monday to send to the CIF and have plans to cover it for the week in order to protect the surface from any forecast rain.
With road games on each of the past two weekends, the Warriors have not played a home game since November 23 and have not even practiced on the field in that time.
White talked to El Monte head coach Jesse Ceniceros this week and says he believes the Lions are happy to play the game in Crescent City.
The Lions also play their home games on grass.
The CIF’s concern may have something to do with Las Lomas’ trip to Albee Stadium for an NCS playoff game last year, when the Eureka High surface was a mud bath.
The Del Norte field, however, is in far better condition this week than Albee Stadium was 12 months ago.
“If we don’t host this game, we’ll never host a state game,” White said. “The field is as good as it’s ever been. There are no excuses not to play it here.”
The head coach added he’s not expecting a final decision before Thursday, with the CIF monitoring the conditions, all of which makes travel arrangements difficult for the El Monte players and fans.
White also said he expects as many as 2,000 fans to show up at Mike Whalen Field if they get to host, but added far less will travel to Arcata for the game.
Not true about people not showing up to watch the warriors if it’s down here hell all of humboldt county is rooting for you guys 😃
This is an outrage. I and many more are traveling to be there, our tickets say Crescent City. We have plans and a Thursday change is not acceptable. I personally plane to file suit if I have to travel to Arcata. I think the DN team should show up in its stadium no matter what, and declare victory for the other team not being there! Go Warriors!
Wow, that’s not very dramatic at all…
I wish that some of the outraged people I’ve been seeing all over social media who don’t have kids in the program would put their money where their mouths are. Use that passion and outrage to get our facilities upgraded. The ladies bathroom is disgusting and of all the traveling we’ve done this year, it’s apparent other schools are able to maintain/upgrade their facilities.
So much noise when these boys need to focus on getting healthy and ready for the next game. Go Warriors, it’s been an amazing season and I’m so proud to be a Warrior Mom ❤️
Rain and mud. Weather in general has always been part of football. Especially at the High School level. Some of the most memorable games in HDN have been real mud bowls. There may be some increased “Home Field” advantage since our kids don’t play as much on turf as some richer districts. We have covered the field before, 05? Stank so bad, Only Sunday game in History I believe. Total mud 30 to 30. Our field is pristine right now in comparison. We have played playoff Games in Healdsburg where a third of the field is the infield for baseball. Bigga Deal.
Who can we contact to express our displeasure over this proposed change?