Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Arcata’s Dakota Sanders and Del Norte’s Alex Osborne in action at Saturday’s H-DN Wrestling Championships at Fortuna.

By Ray Hamill — The H-DN could be in for a big year at the North Coast Section wrestling championships at James Logan High School this weekend, with 16 local boys seeded in the 14 weight classes.

Five are seeded within the top three in their brackets, giving the league an excellent shot at sending multiple wrestlers on to next week’s state championships in Bakersfield.

“The league is tougher right now than it’s been in 20 years, hands down,” Fortuna head coach Steven Stockdale said. “It has been so deep with talent this year. The H-DN will represent well at the NCS.”

Leading the way are a pair of defending section champions — Arcata’s Joshua Hannan at 132 pounds and Hoopa’s Gerard Marshall at heavyweight — each of whom are seeded No. 1 in their weight divisions.

Del Norte freshman Chulhs Bates is also enjoying an outstanding debut season at the high school level and is seeded No. 2 at 106, as is Fortuna’s Mason Evanow at 120.

All four standouts won league titles last at Fortuna last weekend, as the Del Norte boys took home the team championship, ahead of Hoopa in second and Fortuna in third.

And they’re not the only likely contenders for a section crown this weekend.

Marshall’s Hoopa team Kaewett Nelson, another league champion at 170, is seeded third, while Del Norte’s Eric Stansbury is seeded fourth at 120, giving the league two of the top four seeds in that weight class.

“We have 16 (H-DN) boys seeded and I want to say that’s the most I’ve ever seen,” said longtime Del Norte head coach Clinton Schaad. “And eight of them are from Del Norte, so we’re excited to represent our league.”

Hoopa is also well represented among the seeds with four Warriors included, along with two from Arcata.

Hoopa’s Antonio Correa is seeded No. 5 at 182, while teammate Jason Marshall is No. 9 at 195.

Another league champion, Arcata’s Dakota Sanders, is seeded No. 6 at 113, as are Del Norte’s Curtis Bartley at 132, Isaac Lopez at 138 and Jase Mintonye at 195.

Rounding out the local contingent of seeds are Del Norte’s Colton Schaad (No. 7 at 160), Del Norte’s RJ Loftin (No. 8 at 170), McKinleyville’s William Baumgarten (No. 9 at 138) and Del Norte’s Alex Osborne (No. 9 at 113).

The top two finishers in each weight division will advance to the CIF state meet, and the hopes are high that the league will top last year’s haul of two boys qualifiers while perhaps coming close to the record eight state qualifiers the league had in 1999.

As expected, the league champion Del Norte boys lead the way with 11 total qualifiers for this weekend’s tournament, followed by Hoopa with eight, Fortuna and St. Bernard’s with six each, Arcata and McKinleyville with four apiece and Eureka with three, meaning seven of the eight H-DN programs will be represented.

“I think we’re actually going to do really well this year,” Arcata head coach Cass Bell said of the league. “All the teams have stepped up and the quality of wrestling here is getting better and better.”

Hannan’s league title was his fourth in four years at the high school level, which Bell described as a “big achievement.”

In addition to Hannan and Sanders, teammate Isaiah Bell also qualified for the NCS meet after winning the league title at 126, as did Gavin Smith, who placed second at 160.

In his second year in charge, Cass Bell has the Tigers on the rise and was more than happy with his team’s showing at he league championships.

“It was awesome,” the coach said. “I was super proud of all of them.”

Remarkably Smith qualified for the NCS in his first year competing in any high school sport.

“That’s pretty amazing,” Cass Bell said. “I have high hopes for him next year.”

The Arcata coach believes all of his wrestlers are ready for a big weekend.

“I have really high hopes for them,” he said. “Josh is a solid No. 1 and as long as he’s on point, he’ll be fine.

“Dakota has a really good chance. He could easily get second. First will be a battle, but he could do it if he’s in the right mindset.”

The Arcata coach also coaches multiple wrestlers from elsewhere in the H-DN through the Institute of Combat club, including Nelson, Bartley and Gerard Marshall.

“I think Kaewett has a really good chance of going to state,” the coach said of the No. 3 seed. “He’s got a really good chance of taking first.”

McKinleyville also has four wrestlers competing this weekend, including league champion Jace Thomson at 145, as well as teammates Baumgarten, John Randall (220) and Brandon Hillegeist (120).

Randall and Baumgarten were each runners-up in the league championships, while Hillegeist placed third in a very competitive bracket that included NCS seeds Evanow and Stansbury.

“I thought we did what I thought we’d do,” McKinleyville head coach Virgil Moorehead said of his young team’s performance at the league finale. “I was pleased with our team. Team-wise we’re young. We’ve only got two seniors out of 18.”

Baumgarten’s performance and qualification was particularly gratifying after his perseverance the past few years.

“It’s really rewarding to see him in this position,” Moorehead said.

Fortuna and Del Norte also have young teams.

In addition to Mason Evanow, Fortuna teammates Cayden Spiers (106), Tyson Evanow (113), Jacob August (132), Mako Limon (138) and Wyatt McKnight (170) all qualified.

Mason Evanow’s narrow victory over rival Stansbury in the 120 league final, which came in the final seconds, ended a run of six straight losses to the Del Norte standout.

“Those two could be in the section final,” Stockdale said of the two top-four seeds.

Del Norte’s James Gensaw (126), Soren Lewis (152) and Reynaldo Martinez (182) each also qualified.

“What’s exciting for us is that of our qualifiers, only two are seniors,” Clinton Schaad said.

Also qualifying for this week’s big event are league champions Jack Kramer of St. Bernard’s (152) and Tyler Lewis of Hoopa (220), as well as league runners-up Iain Clark of Eureka (145) and St. Bernard’s Tucker Rice (heavyweight).

Rounding out the list of local qualifiers are Hoopa’s Riley Baldy (106), Eureka’s Xinai Lee (126), St. Bernard’s Tyson Meyer (145), Hoopa’s Nathan Edwards (152), Hoopa’s Raymond Baldy (160), St. Bernard’s Ronin Herbst (182), St. Bernard’s Kieran Flynn (195), St. Bernard’s Kyler Smith (220) and Eureka’s Knolin Callender (heavyweight), each of whom placed third at the league championships.

“I think overall the league will do good,” Moorehead said. “We’re going to have quite a few placers.”

The two-day tournament gets under way on Friday.