Submitted photo – The Redwood Giants players and coaches celebrate their tournament championship in Medford.
By Ray Hamill — Perseverance paid off for a pair of local teams this week.
One of them enjoyed success after several close calls this year and they finally got to take home a championship, while the other had to dig deep on the way to winning a crucial game, finally reaping the rewards of their efforts in the dying minutes.
And because of that, the Redwood Giants Orange 10U travel baseball team and the Del Norte boys soccer team are our teams of the week.
The young Giants players traveled to Medford and won their bracket at the Bash to School tournament.,
They won all four of their game so the way to the championship, including three shutouts.
And the victory was particularly gratifying after some close calls and near misses at tournaments earlier in the year.
They won Sunday’s final 8-0, defeating the Lost Coast Legends, who had beaten them in the final of the Rumble in the Redwoods tournament this past summer.
The Giants team includes Jaxon and Travis Gray, Kohl Rea, Jameson Kozlowski, Jace Price Lewis, Reece Killingsworth, Wesley Ask, Reid Wibenhorst, Brodi Maniachi and Silas Beers and is coached by Luke Rea, Johnny Kozlowski and Nate Ask.
The Del Norte boys also enjoyed a big week on the soccer fields, clinching a crucial victory in the H-DNL with a 1-0 win over the Fortuna Huskies in Crescent City on Wednesday.
The win lifts the Warriors to 2-0 in league play, and while it’s still very early in the race for the championship, it came against a team that is expected to be their biggest challengers for the title.
Just as it appeared both teams were going to share the points, Mario Ledezma netted the winning goal right at the end, with teammate Brandt Pennington assisting on the strike.
Del Norte head coach David Sanyaolu has built a very strong program in Crescent City and this is a group of players that play great defense and know how to win tight games.
They did it before on the way to the league title in a very competitive race a year ago and they’ve picked up this year just where they left off in 2023.
For more on the Giants, see Redwood Giants 10Us get breakthrough tournament win in Medford …
For more on the Warriors, see Warriors find a way past the Huskies in key H-DNL showdown …
Categories: Athletes of the Week, baseball, Del Norte, Soccer, Youth sports
Congrats to both! Del Norte is a good team but they will always win home games. They have their own refs and usually only two on the field. Handballs, blatant fouls inside and out of the box will never be called against them at home. It’s not an even playing field. It’s a shame to the game and league honestly. Need to do better! And before you come at me, no I haven’t lost a game to them I’m just an unbiased bystander who follows the soccer league and have seen it happen year after year. Excited to watch Fortuna vs Del Norte @ Fortuna, different refs, different game!
We’re going to beat them at their home!!
Sounds like you have lost to us don’t get mad.
Funny🤣.
That’s funny because all the refs in the league come from Humboldt
We lost a home game to fortuna so I don’t think we always win. We beating them at home though😉