Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Del Norte’s Curtis Bartley in action at this year’s H-DNL championships.

By Ray Hamill — Three Del Norte Warriors will compete for a state championship in wrestling this week, as all three look out to close out a memorable campaign on the mats with a strong showing at one of the biggest high school tournaments in the nation.

Juniors Colton Schaad and Curtis Bartley both won a North Coast Section for the first time on Saturday to qualify for the prestigious state championships, while senior Channey Schaad placed third in her section tournament to advance as well.

The state tournaments, which will take place in Bakersfield, get under way on Thursday and will run for three days.

And head coach Clinton Schaad — Colton’s father — is hoping all three compete to the best of their ability.

“It’s going to be one match at a time and don’t overlook your opponent and don’t get overwhelmed,” the coach said. “And hopefully they can do well.”

Qualifying for the final California high school tournament of the season has been a goal for these three hard-working grapplers all season.

And all three have continued to improve over the course of their high school careers and will be making the trip to state for the first time.

Bartley, who this week is ranked No. 22 in the state at 140 pounds, is a three-time NCS placer, going from fifth in his freshman season to fourth as a sophomore and first this winter.

Colton Schaad, who is ranked No. 23 in the state at 167, placed eighth in his weight class at sections last year before taking home the title this season.

Channey Schaad, meanwhile, placed eighth at the NCS meet as a sophomore two years ago, before improving to seventh last year and third this year.

She defeated Amador Valley’s Eliana Caro with a pin in the third-place match after battling back from a semifinal loss.

“She had a fantastic tournament,” coach and uncle Clinton Schaad said. “She dropped down, but kept her head up and kept right on going to third. She had a great tournament.”

Colton Schaad

Channey also has had to overcome some injuries this season, but continued to battle despite being banged up.

According to Clinton, she is healthy again as she heads down south for this week’s big event.

Bartley, meanwhile, has been one of the top wrestlers in the H-DNL since his freshman year and has had his eyes set on qualifying for the state championships all season.

“He has had a great season,” his coach said. “He’s been getting better every tournament.”

That showed at last weekend’s section tournament, where the junior standout defeated Benicia’s Vicente Rodarte with a 2-0 decision in his final.

“He’s very goal oriented,” Clinton Schaad added. “And one of his goals this season was to reach state.

“He had a very smart match in the final. He was patient, he was smart and he went out there and did what he needed to do.”

Curtis Bartley

Colton Schaad also set a goal this season of winning an NCS title and qualifying for state and has been working extremely hard to achieve that.

“Much like Curtis, he set his goals early on and hasn’t wavered,” the coach said. “He’s been training hard all year and doesn’t miss many days.

“He’s a very focused young man and won’t let things distract him.”

The junior grappler, who had a very impressive offseason at tournaments all over the West Coast last spring and summer, was back in the gym the day after winning his section title to continue his preparation for this week’s big tournament.

Colton, who is also a standout football player for the Warriors, defeated Heritage’s Jesse Briggs on an ultimate tie-breaker in his section final.

The trip to the state tournament caps a very successful season for the Warriors, who won a first-ever NCS dual meet championship and a league championship earlier this month.

Two other H-DNL wrestlers — Fortuna’s Mason Evanow and Chloe Cox — also have qualified for this week’s state championships.