Submitted photos – Antonio Correa placed first at 215 pounds at the North Coast Classic.

By Ray Hamill — As their season begins to heat up and we head towards the business end of the campaign, some local wrestlers take center stage this week in our weekly awards.

Hoopa senior Antonio Correa has been a particular bright spot within the H-DNL this year and is this week’s Humboldt Sports Athlete of the Week.

Correa follows in the footsteps of Del Norte’s Colton Schaad and Curtis Bartley, who each also were recently named athletes of the week.

All three have been lighting it up on the mats this winter, and they’re far from done.

No doubt Correa will be hoping to follow the lead of the two Del Norte standouts by winning a North Coast Section championship later in the season.

Few who have seen him wrestle this season would doubt his credentials.

This past weekend, Correa continued his impressive season with a big tournament win, placing first in the 215-pound division at Eureka High’s North Coast Classic.

Correa not only won all four of his matches at the tournament — all of them by pin — but he was also named the tournament Most Outstanding Upper Weight Wrestler.

We stay on the mats for our team of the week, which goes to the McKinleyville boys wrestling team.

The Panthers were equally impressive on their way to the tournament championship at Eureka on Saturday.

Under the guidance of head coach Virgil Morehead, the Mack boys have been one of the stories of the season in the H-DNL and that continued to be the case at the weekend tourney.

The Panthers scored 168.5 points to edge the host school for the championship by just seven points.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Antonio Correa

Hoopa Wrestling, Senior

Correa is enjoying an outstanding season for the Warriors, and he’s just getting started.

The Hoopa standout is ranked No. 3 in the section in his weight class and No. 21 in the state and dominated this opponents in Saturday’s tournament, including a big win in the final that took just 58 seconds.

His head coach Robert Baldy believes Correa has the tools and work ethic to win an NCS championship and advance to this year’s California state tournament.

For more on his big week, see Correa, Houston named outstanding tourney wrestlers for Hoopa …

McKinleyville’s Damarius Thompson, right.

TEAM OF THE WEEK 

McKinleyville Boys Wrestling

The Panthers are enjoying one of their best seasons on the mats in years and are showing no signs of slowing down as we head towards the league championships and NCS postseason.

On Saturday, the Mack boys were led by Damarius Thompson, who placed first at 132.

Thompson was one of four individual winners for McKinleyville and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Lower Weight Wrestler.

Brandon Hillegeist (120), Lucas Dickey (165) and Brayden Pinard (190) each also won their weight divisions for McKinleyville, while teammates Leo Cosce (138) and Na-tess Marquez (144) both placed third.