Photo by Michelle Conley – The Arcata Tigers celebrate their state championship win earlier this month.
By Ray Hamill — With a long and very enjoyable local high school football season finally over, it’s time to announce the Humboldt Sports end-of-season awards, including our team of the season, coach of the season and player of the season.
And as usual, there were several worthy candidates, including all seven league MVPs — Benjamin Borges, Colton Schaad and Jake Houseworth for the Big 4, as well as Luke Lemke, Tanner Pidgeon, Ethan Weitzel and Jackson Strand in the Little 4 — as voted on by the H-DNL coaches.
Both local conference championships went down to the wire, with the Del Norte Warriors clinching a fifth straight Big 4 pennant outright on the final day of the regular season.
The Little 4 was decided just a few miles away in Ferndale, when the host Wildcats handed Arcata a first (and only) loss of the season to share the spoils with the Tigers.
Five of the nine local teams qualified for the North Coast Section playoffs, a field that included Del Norte, Arcata, Ferndale, St. Bernard’s and Fortuna.
Arcata, of course, would go on to win a state championship five weeks later, while three other H-DNL teams would lose to eventual state champion Moreau Catholic, including the Ferndale Wildcats who qualified for a second straight NCS championship game.
The strength of local high school football can be seen in the fact the H-DNL has now won five state titles in 10 years, with Arcata’s following the recent success of St. Bernard’s (twice), Fortuna and Ferndale.
The league’s record in state bowl games in recent years is even more impressive, with Del Norte’s loss to El Monte in 2019 the only blemish on the record.
Here then are the Humboldt Sports end-of-season awards …
TEAM OF THE YEAR
The Arcata Tigers
Who else could it be.
The Tigers capped a remarkable and very memorable season with their best ever campaign.
After winning a third Little 4 championship in four years, the Tigers more than proved their pedigree by winning five straight playoff games on the way to first-ever NCS, NorCal and state championships for the program.
But the team’s success is only half the story.
They played an exciting brand of football with Lemke leading the way on offense and Strand equally brilliant on defense, and a host of players showcasing why they should go on to play at the collegiate level after graduating from Arcata High.
This was a team that dominated most of their opponents.
The Tigers’ nine regular season wins came by an average of 29.3 points, while three of their five postseason wins came by at least three touchdowns.
Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
COACH OF THE YEAR
Clint McClurg, Ferndale
Ferndale football is back.
After a couple of barren seasons in 2021 and 2022, the Wildcats have reestablished themselves as an NCS powerhouse once again.
Two straight trips to a section championship game and a state title in 2023 has more than restored Wildcat pride and the most effective program culture in the entire H-DNL.
The Wildcats epitomize small-town, physical football as well as any school, wearing opponents down with a relentless ground attack and catching them off guard with an opportunistic passing game.
And no one deserves more credit for that resurgence than head coach Clint McClurg and his staff, who almost always have their players well prepared for game day.
McClurg has done an outstanding job with the program, orchestrating the win of the season in the H-DNL this past fall, when the Cats defeated Arcata, a school with approximately eight times the student population Ferndale has, according to the NCS.
He also has guided the Wildcats to three NCS finals in the last five postseasons (2019, 2023, 2024).
Just as impressive, McClurg has instilled a humble confidence in his players, who collectively treat the game and their opponents with respect and play with a consistency and resilience that most other programs can only hope for.
Tanner Pidgeon (2)
Co-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Luke Lemke, Arcata, Junior
Tanner Pidgeon, Ferndale, Junior
While lineman Ethan Weitzel and linebacker Colton Schaad, among others, each deserve a ton of credit for their performances and the manner in which they helped set their teams up for success this year, no two players were as electrifying and dangerous as quarterbacks Lemke and Pidgeon.
And more impressively, both are juniors with their best high school ball still ahead of them.
Lemke and Pidgeon are a threat to score every time they touch the ball and both often do.
This past season, Pidgeon scored 29 rushing touchdowns and 30 total, while Lemke threw for 35 TDs and ran for 21.
Lemke was arguably the more dominating offensive threat and a brilliant scrambler who evaded tackles time and again and was a nightmare to bring down.
Luke Lemke
Without him the Tigers simply would not have won a state championship.
But Pidgeon was perhaps the more dominating all-around player and every bit as good at safety as he was at quarterback, as well as being a threat on special teams.
As McClurg said when the league MVPs were announced, “Tanner is arguably the overall MVP with his defensive and special teams contributions.”
What we do know for sure is that both of these players enjoyed outstanding season for their teams and thrilled us with their play on the field.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m already looking forward to seeing what both of them can do as seniors next fall.
