Submitted photo – Del Norte’s Chulhs Bates placed sixth at last weekend’s big Tim Brown tournament in Sacramento.
By Ray Hamill — The Del Norte boys wrestling team could make a case for being the most dominating high school sports program on the North Coast right now.
On Tuesday, the Warriors cruised to another H-DNL dual meet victory by beating Fortuna 53-19, and under the guidance of head coach Clinton Schaad and his staff Del Norte has not lost a league dual meet in seven years.
During that time they have also placed second at the North Coast Section Dual Meet Championships for four straight years — finishing second to Ukiah each time — and this year’s team will be hoping to go one better at next month’s section tournament, which will be held at Eureka High School on Feb. 3.
And the frightening part for the rest of the league is that the Warriors’ dominance isn’t showing any signs of showing down.
This year’s team features several league contenders, all of whom are building momentum as we head toward the business end of the season.
“The boys and girls are working hard,” Schaad said. “And they make coaching easier when they show up with the right attitude day in and day out.”
Last weekend, the Warriors traveled to Sacramento to compete at the Tim Brown tournament, which is considered one of the most competitive events of the season, and the boys placed ninth out of 80 teams.
“They wrestled really well,” Schaad said. “Everybody got wins.”
Eight of the 11 Warriors who traveled scored team points and made it to day two of the tournament, which featured 64-man brackets.
Juniors Colton Schaad and Curtis Bartley and sophomore Chulhs Bates all continued to impress for the Warriors as they build momentum ahead of next month’s H-DNL championships (Feb. 10), where all three are expected to challenge for an individual title.
Bartley has been particularly impressive and is the top-ranked wrestler in the North Coast Section at 138 pounds.
“He’s really driven,” the head coach said of Bartley, who is also ranked No. 23 in the state. “And he’s got a good shot at being a state qualifier. He’s looking really strong right now.”
Bates has been almost as impressive and is another young wrestler who could contend for a place at state.
“He’s a hard-headed little guy with no quit in him,” Clinton Schaad said. “He’s got a lot of energy and he’s a very determined young man.”
Colton Schaad, meanwhile, had a good weekend on and off the mats.
In addition to placing fourth in his bracket after battling back from a “heartbreaking” overtime loss to the top-ranked grappler in the NCS in the quarterfinals, the junior standout was one of just six wrestlers at the prestigious tournament to receive a US Army Academic Excellence and Leadership Award, which he earned for his talents on the mats and his grades.
Isaac Lopez, James Gensaw Jr., Soren Lewis, Reynaldo Martinez and Braydan Johnson each also had impressive showings at the tournament, as did freshman Remington Escobedo, who is enjoying an outstanding debut campaign at the high school level.
“He’s been coming along all year and he’s earned the right to travel with the varsity team for tournaments,” Clinton Schaad said of Escobedo, who won three of his five matches at the tournament. “He’s been stepping up quite a bit and learning from the older kids.”
The Warriors changed plans for this weekend and instead of traveling to the prestigious Mid Cals tournament in Gilroy, they will compete instead at the less intense one-day Rogue River tournament in order to heal up and get ready for a busy few weeks.
