By Ray Hamill — After another memorable year for teams in the H-DNL there was no shortage of worthy candidates for the 2024 Humboldt Sports High School Team of the Year.

The league secured a pair of state championships, including a first-ever in basketball, as well as numerous North Coast Section championships.

Several other teams set new standards for their programs and enjoyed memorable conference championship seasons while thrilling their fan base along the way.

But only the very best of the very best can make our list of finalists for team of the year, and we’ve had to make some difficult choices narrowing down the field.

The Humboldt Sports Team of the Year is one of six end-of-year awards we’ll be handing out, along with our high school Coach of the Year and Big 5 and Little 4 Girls and Boys Athletes of the Year.

All of the finalists will be named in the coming days, with the award winners to be announced shortly afterwards.

And a huge thank you to the local businesses that have stepped up to help sponsor this year’s awards, a group that includes Mendes Supply, DelReka Distributing, Bode Construction, The Humboldt Fence Company, and Chris Prior of Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty, all of whose generosity ensures all six award winners will receive trophies to honor their accomplishments.

Here then is our list of nine finalists for the 2024 Humboldt Sports Team of the Year in alphabetical order.

Del Norte Softball

With many of the same players that were on the Del Norte volleyball team, the Warriors capped a memorable year for their school in sports with a Big 5 and Charles Lakin championship double.

The Lakin tournament title was the first ever for the program, and even though they fell short in their bid for an NCS crown this team deserves special recognition.

Del Norte Volleyball

Led by conference MVPs McKenna Curtis and Lili Nunez and a dream team of coaches, the Warriors were exceptionally good even by the lofty standards Del Norte volleyball has set over the years.

They may have fallen short in their bid for an NCS crown, but no H-DNL team in any sport dominated in league play the way the Warriors did this past year and they did not drop a single set in their eight Big 5 matches.

Del Norte Wrestling

The dominating Warriors won another H-DNL championship and finally secured a breakthrough North Coast Section Dual Meet title.

They did see a long H-DNL dual meet winning streak end at the hands of Arcata, but head coach Clinton Schaad has built one of the most dominating H-DNL programs in any sport and sent three wrestlers on to the state championships this past winter.

Eureka Girls Basketball

The Loggers won a third straight Big 5 and Dick Niclai championship double and lost just once to H-DNL opposition all year.

Under the guidance of head coach Cliff Napoleon and co-MVPs of the Big 5 Isis Poteet and Kaitlin Giacone, few local teams dominated in the manner the Loggers did this year.

Ferndale Baseball

It was a fantastic year for Ferndale High sports, including the school’s baseball team, which ended a 19-year wait for a Little 4 crown and would go on to win an NCS title.

With head coach Justin Andersen calling the shots, the Cats ended the season with a first-ever NorCal playoff win and epitomized team ball with everyone on the roster contributing along the way.

Ferndale Football

The Wildcats may have missed out on a conference title, but they more than made up for that by going on to win an NCS and state championship.

More impressive was the manner in which they claimed the latter two, winning the section pennant with three straight road wins against higher seeds and battling back from a three-touchdown deficit in a thrilling state final.

McKinleyville Baseball

The Panthers put together a remarkable 15-game winning streak on their way to a Big 5 championship and a first-ever Charles Lakin tournament title.

Remarkably, they achieved all of that with just four seniors, and with a large group of exceptional freshmen on this year’s roster they should continue to be a force in the H-DNL for the next few years at least.

St. Bernard’s Girls Basketball

The Crusaders set a legacy that will never be topped by becoming the first-ever H-DNL basketball team — boys or girls — to win a state championship.

Led by standouts Madelyn Shanahan and Laila Florvilus and head coach Matt Tomlin, the SB girls were not just the biggest story of the local basketball season but one of the biggest sports stories of the year.

St. Bernard’s Volleyball

Winning the Little 4 championship was just a warm-up for the St. Bernard’s girls, who would go on to achieve a breakthrough championship for the H-DNL

Under the guidance of head coach Wendy Joyner, the Crusaders became the first league volleyball team to win an NCS title in 37 years.