Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The 2024 Humboldt Sports co-Teams of the Year.

By Ray Hamill — Winning a league title is always a great accomplishment for any team, while winning a North Coast Section championship is obviously even more so.

But nothing compares to winning a state championship, and that ultimately is what separated the 2024 Humboldt Sports High School Team of the Year from a competitive field of very worthy candidates.

Or should I say the 2024 Humboldt Sports High School co-Teams of the Year.

After all, it was such a good year for H-DNL sports that it seems only right to name co-teams of the year.

Especially when you consider the incredible achievements for each.

In the fall, the Ferndale Wildcats won their first-ever state championship in football, and they did so in thrilling fashion.

Not to be outdone, a few months later the St. Bernard’s girls matched that accomplishment by going on to win the H-DNL’s first-ever state championship in basketball, and they also did so in thrilling fashion.

Under the guidance of head coach Clint McClurg and his staff, a determined Wildcats team was handed the No. 5 seed in their bracket for the North Coast Section football playoffs and they succeeded in difficult circumstances.

Not only were they the lowest NCS seed to win a football section crown in 2023, but they had to travel hundreds of miles to do so, beating higher seeds on the road every step of the way.

They were just getting warmed up.

They followed that by winning a NorCal championship at the Redwood Bowl a week later and then had to travel all the way to SoCal to beat Fairfax out of Los Angeles in the CIF Division 7-AA championship game at El Camino College.

And the drama and excitement didn’t end there.

They started the championship game slowly and found themselves trailing by three touchdowns early in the game.

Submitted photo

Submitted photo

But this group of players, led by their four team captains — three of whom were just sophomores — are special and they showed us exactly why by rallying with four unanswered TDs to win 29-21.

The Wildcats possessed the “wow factor” more than any other H-DNL team in 2023/24.

Except perhaps the St. Bernard’s girls basketball team.

Under the guidance of head coach Matt Tomlin — who is the 2024 Humboldt Sports High School Coach of the Year — the SB girls put together a very special season and set a new standard for H-DNL sports, one that will never be topped.

After all, there will only ever be one first state championship basketball team for the league, and that’s the Crusaders.

After almost pushing the Eureka girls all the way in the Dick Niclai championship game at Lumberjack Arena, the Crusaders had a disappointing showing in the North Coast Section playoffs, losing a semifinal matchup at home against Cornerstone Christian.

A week off, however, would revitalize St. Bernard’s and the players responded by winning four straight games on their way to winning NorCal and state championships.

Submitted photo

Submitted photo

And remarkably the Little 4 Division-6 school achieved all of that playing against Division-4 schools.

The incredible and memorable playoff run included a NorCal final victory over Arcata, which saw the Crusaders rally late from an 11-point deficit for a 60-54 win.

That game, which was the first-ever all-local NorCal decider, was played in front of a packed house at College of the Redwoods and served up a fantastic celebration of local girls basketball.

Three days later, the Crusaders defeated Grossmont out of San Diego 47-29 in rather comfortable fashion to compete their historic season.

A huge shout out 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, whose generosity ensures all six of our end-of-year award winners will receive trophies to honor their accomplishments.

In addition to the 2024 Humboldt Sports Team of the Year, this weekend we’re also announcing our other end-of-year high school award winners, including our Little 4 Boys and Girls Athletes of the Year, the Coach of the Year and the Big 5 Boys and Girls Athletes of the Year.