Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Former Ferndale Wildcat Lane Branstetter is among the 24 local players practicing with the Corsairs this spring.

By Ray Hamill — College football will make a welcome return to the North Coast in the fall, when College of the Redwoods fields a team for the first time since 2019.

The Corsairs released the 2022 schedule on Wednesday morning, as well as updating the list of local recruits who will play for the team, which now stands at 37 players.

CR will play 10 regular season games, kicking off on the road at Merced College on September 3, with the team’s home opener a week later against San Jose City College.

The Corsairs will play five home games, all of them at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday afternoons.

After a trip to take on West Hills College  on September 17, the Corsairs will play back-to-back home games against Monterey Peninsula College and Foothill College.

October will feature a pair of bye weeks and trips to play night games at Los Medanos College and Yuba College, before back-to-back games at the Redwood Bowl in November against DeAnza College and Gavilan College and a season finale at Feather River College on November 19.

The Corsairs also released an updated list of local recruits, with players from all nine H-DNL programs committing to play for the team.

A total of 24 local players have been working out together this spring, with 13 more of this year’s graduates set to join them in the fall.

Hoopa has more players on the roster than any other school, with an impressive 10 Warriors committing to the local community college, while seven players from Eureka have committed, along with five each from Fortuna and Del Norte.

Photo by Roger Schultz/Hot Shots Sports Photography – Former Del Norte running back Levi Cox Cooley will play for the Corsairs in the fall.

Some of the notable recruits include Del Norte’s Tanner Forker, Levi Cox-Cooley, Sam Schauerman and brothers Kaleb and Konner Price, as well as Ferndale’s Lane Branstetter and Orion Benton and Fortuna’s Joey Quen, Max Hough and Levi Nyberg.

The Hoopa contingent is led by all-conference selections Carlos Aguilar, James Hernandez, Sonny Jarnaghan and Jasper Hostler, as well as two-time all-conference selection Sly Logan-Miguelena, who is the lone returning player from the 2019 CR team.

Receiver Bryce Gratz, who played on the St. Bernard’s state championship team in 2015, also will play for the Corsairs, as will McKinleyville’s Che Jimenez and Conner Berg, the latter off whom was a two-time all-conference selection at running back.

There should be plenty of quality players for head coach Jason White and his staff to choose from as well, with 17 of the local recruits all-conference selections.

The full list of local recruits is as follows …

Practicing in the Spring of 2022

Max Hough, QB – Fortuna, 2021 Graduate, All-Conference

Joey Quen, OL – Fortuna 2021 Graduate

Levi Nyberg , RB – Fortuna  2021 Graduate, All-Conference

Levi Cox Cooley, RB – Del Norte, 2021 Graduate, League MVP in 2019

Tanner Forkner, LB – Del Norte, 2021 Graduate, 2x All-Conference

Kaleb Price, TE – Del Norte, 2021 Graduate, All-Conference

Antorious Bell, RB – Eureka, 2020 Graduate

Kayro Jimenez, WR – Eureka, 2022 Graduate

Carlos Duenas, OL – Eureka, 2022 Graduate

Max Tapuulaaia, LB – Eureka, 2022 Graduate

Drew Jensen, LB – Eureka, 2020 Graduate

Diego Garcia, DB – Eureka, 2020 Graduate

Dylan Fales, DL – Eureka, 2020 Graduate

Alberto Iskra, DB – Arcata, 2020 Graduate

Che Jimenez, DB – McKinleyville, 2020 Graduate – All-Conference

Lane Branstetter, DB – Ferndale, 2021 Graduate – 2x All-Conference

Orion Benton, LB – Ferndale, 2020 Graduate – All-Conference

Caden Rocha, OL – Ferndale, 2021 Graduate

Weyk-Seyr Hutchinson, OL – Hoopa, 2019 Graduate, Sophomore

Sly Logan-Miguelena, OL – Hoopa, 2021 Graduate – 2x All-Conference

Sonny Jarnaghan, LB – Hoopa, 2019 Graduate – All-Conference

Carlos Aguilar, WR – Hoopa, 2020 Graduate – All-Conference

Jasper Hostler, WR – Hoopa, 2021 Graduate – All-Conference

Bryce Gratz, WR – St. Bernards, 2018 Graduate – All-Conference

Carlos Aguilar

Attending in the Fall of 2022

Connor Berg, RB – McKinleyville, 2022 Graduate – 2x All-Conference

Logan Maher, K – McKinleyville, 2022 Graduate

Logan Miranda, WR – Fortuna, 2022 Graduate

Dylan Bramlett, DB – Fortuna, 2022 Graduate

Caleb Wilks, OL – South Fork, 2022 Graduate

Zech Wilks, DL – South Fork, 2022 Graduate

Bronc Colegrove, OL – Hoopa, 2022 Graduate

James Hernandez, DL – Hoopa, 2022 Graduate – All-Conference

AJ Perez, LB – Hoopa, 2022 Graduate

Talon Borden, DB – Hoopa, 2022 Graduate

Gavyn Albers, DB – Hoopa, 2022 Graduate

Sam Schauerman, DL – Del Norte, 2022 Graduate – Co-MVP Lineman of HDN,

Konnor Price, OL – Del Norte, 2022 Graduate – All-Conference

The 2022 Schedule

Sept. 3 – at Merced College

Sept. 10 – vs. San Jose City College

Sept. 17 – at West Hills College

Sept. 24 – vs. Monterey Peninsula College

Oct. 1 – vs. Foothill College

Oct. 8 – at Los Medanos College, 6 p.m.

Oct. 15 – Bye

Oct. 22 – at Yuba College, 6 p.m.

Oct. 29 – Bye

Nov. 5 – vs. DeAnza College

Nov. 12 – vs. Gavilan College

Nov. 19 – at Feather River

All games at 1 p.m. unless otherwise noted