Ferndale High receives second H-DNL sportsmanship award

By barstoolfanatics on April 9, 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Submitted photo – Players from the Ferndale girls basketball team along with the H-DNL winter sportsmanship pennant.

By Ray Hamill — The Ferndale Wildcats are setting a good example on the field of competition and in the stands.

The school and community was recently honored as the H-DNL Winter Sportsmanship Award winners.

This marks the second straight winter that the Wildcats have won the award.

“I think there’s still work to be done for all the schools, but I think we’re doing stuff to move in the right direction,” Ferndale High principal Jeremy Griffith said. “You play with respect for your opponent and that helps you be successful.”

The award is handed out to one of the league’s 11 schools after each of the fall, winter and spring seasons and is based on input from three different groups — officials, coaches and school administrators.

Ferndale is the first H-DNL school to earn the accolade twice, having also been honored last winter.

And that speaks highly of the school’s two basketball teams, which continue to represent the Wildcats in a respectful manner, both on and off the court, as well as the Ferndale community.

According to school Athletic Director Clint McClurg, good sportsmanship is something the school and indeed the entire league is always looking to stress.

“At a league level, when we sit down we do talk about ways to help coaches and help our student athletes, and without a doubt we try to focus in on that,” McClurg said. “The fans’ role is to cheer and they’ve done a good job. And our student athletes are remaining in the game, which is important.”

The message apparently is being received by the Wildcats student athletes and fans.

“Every team and every school was far from perfect, but we just like to stress to our student athletes and our student section that there are ways to support your fellow students in a positive way,” Griffith added. “It’s good that the students are hearing that message.”

The Ferndale boys basketball team.

The sportsmanship award is the brainchild of the league’s Student Athlete Advisory Council, which initiated the awards at the start of the 2022/23 school year.

Of the six sportsmanship awards the league has handed out since its inception, five have gone to Little 4 schools.

And two have now gone to Ferndale.

“It’s very positive for Ferndale High School and the Ferndale High School community,” McClurg added.

The inaugural award winner was NorthCoast Prep in the fall of 2022, while St. Bernard’s also received the honor in the spring of 2023 and Fortuna got the nod in the fall of 2023.

The league also hands out an annual sportsmanship award for the school that shows the best sportsmanship over the course of all three seasons, an award that was won last year by the South Fork Cubs.