Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The McKinleyville Panthers will open the 2024 football season at Kelseyville in late August.

By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers will play five consecutive home games in the fall, as they look to get back on track in football.

Head coach Fel Barlow, who led the program to a first conference title in almost 30 years in 2022, finalized his 2024 schedule this week.

And it includes a run of five straight home games from week three through week seven.

Last year, a young and shorthanded Panthers team finished up winless, but with the JVs showing some life late in the fall and a number of young players gaining some valuable experience at the varsity level, Barlow will be hoping for a better campaign this year.

The Panthers kick off the season at Kelseyville on Aug. 30 and will have a bye the following weekend, before traveling to Fortuna a week later.

After that, they will begin a long stretch of home games, which includes challenging back-to-back pre-league showdowns against University Prep (Sept. 20) and Del Norte (Sept. 27).

McKinleyville opens conference play the following weekend and will play three straight Little 4 games at Mack High.

The Panthers kick off against Ferndale on Oct. 4, before hosting Hoopa a week later and Arcata on Oct. 18.

They then close out the regular season with three consecutive road games, at Ferndale (Oct. 26), Hoopa (Nov. 1) and Arcata (Nov. 8).

The North Coast Section playoffs kick off the following weekend.