Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Humboldt Sports award sponsors Patti and Chris Prior present Prescott Langer with his Athlete of the Year trophy.
By Ray Hamill — The Ferndale Wildcats players and coaches took a short break from practice on Tuesday to receive their trophy after being named the 2024 Humboldt Sports co-Team of the Year.
The Wildcats, who won a state championship last season in thrilling fashion, were named co-Team of the Year this summer along with the St. Bernard’s girls basketball team, which also won. State title this past year.
Junior standout Prescott Langer also received his trophy on Tuesday for being named the 2024 Humboldt Sports Little 4 Boys Athlete of the Year.
Langer is a four-sport star with the Cats and played a pivotal role one the march to the state championship.
The state title, in the Division 7-AA bracket, was the first ever for Ferndale football.
And the Cats achieved it the hard way, winning on the road again higher seeds for three straight weekends in the North Coast Section playoffs before advancing to the state playoffs.
They were the lowest seed to win an NCS championship last season.
Then followed that with a 32-7 win over Portola in the NorCal championship at the Redwood Bowl, before traveling to SoCal and beating Fairfax out of Los Angeles 29-21 in the state final.
And the excitement didn’t end there.
After falling behind by three touchdowns early in the state final, they scored 29 unanswered points on their way to the title.
All in all, it was a moment and achievement head coach Clint McClurg, his coaches, the players and the school won’t easily forget and it will go down as one of the greatest achievements in H-DNL history.
Langer, meanwhile, had a sports year he won’t easily forget, starring in four different sports for the Wildcats.
Im addition to the success he enjoyed on the football field, Langer also impressed in basketball and played a key role in leading the school to another NCS championship in baseball in the spring.
For good measure, Langer also is a standout for Ferndale High in rodeo.
And he achieved all of that in just his sophomore year, suggesting he should only continue to get even better over the next two years.
Langer and his teammates on the football team kicked of the new season in style last week, picking up just where they left off a year ago.
On Saturday, they defeated Fort Bragg 39-12 in their first game of the new campaign.
And they did it with the same physicality they showed on their way to the state championship in December, with Langer epitomizing that physicality as well as anyone.
No local team plays small-town football the way Ferndale does, and they continue to succeed with all home-grown talent, something Wildcats fans and the Ferndale community takes tremendous pride in.
The Cats will try to continue their impressive start to the new season when they travel to play Fall River on Friday night.
A big thank you to all of our award sponsors, including Chris and Patti Prior, The Humboldt Fence Company, Mendes Supply Company, Bode Construction and DelReka Distributing.
And congratulations to Langer and his teammates and all of the finalists for the 2024 Team of the Year and the Little 4 Boys Athlete of the Year.
