By Ray Hamill — A busy Del Norte Wrestling team is competing in three different tournaments this week, as the Warriors continue their preparation for the upcoming H-DNL championships and the postseason.
The reigning league champs placed third at last year’s North Coast Section tournament and were named the 2025 Humboldt Sports High School Team of the Year.
And longtime head coach Clinton Schaad believes they can do even better this year, if things go their way, and the team is currently ranked No. 13 in the state.
“We’re doing okay,” said Schaad, who was also the 2025 Humboldt Sports High School Coach of the Year. “When we get 100 percent healthy, we should make a lot of noise in the postseason.”
While admitting he doesn’t want to count his chickens before they hatch and that a lot of things need to fall into place — “You still have to show up and compete,” he said — Schaad is cautiously optimistic that this year’s year could achieve even loftier heights than last year’s impressive squad, which saw three wrestlers qualify for the state championships, a group that included Colton Schaad, Curtis Bartley and Remington Escobedo.
The latter is back this year and is one of four Warriors ranked in state right now, a group that also includes Chey Gensaw and brothers Thunder and Wyatt Lewis.
Escobedo has been battling some sickness early in the season but has impressed at times, including a win at the season-opening Battle at the Border in early December, where he placed first in his weight division.
“He’ll be fine,” Clinton Schaad said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s resilient and really talented, we’ve just got to get him healthy.”
Gensaw, a sophomore, is enjoying an outstanding season in his second year of high school competition and recently placed first at the Lou Bronzan tournament, getting the better of three state-ranked wrestlers on his way to the title.
“He’s having a fantastic season” the head coach said. “He’s looking pretty good right now.”
So too are the Lewis brothers, who wrestled in the Del Norte youth program before moving out of the area and attending Clovis High School.
Both, however, are back on the North Coast this year and are two of the best wrestlers the H-DNL has seen in recent years, having already enjoyed incredible success at the state level.
Thunder, a senior, has placed at the state tournament in each of the past three years and is currently ranked No. 4 in the state at 126 pounds.
Wyatt, a junior, has been equally impressive, placing at state in each of his previous two high school years, and he is ranked No. 3 in California at 157 this winter.
The two brothers, along with Escobedo, Gensaw and senior Chulhs Bates, give this year’s Del Norte team a legitimate shot at advancing five grapplers to the stage championships, “if the stars align,” the coach said.
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for this year’s team, which is coming off a disappointing showing at the big Lou Bronzan tournament, Gensaw’s performance aside.
“As a team we didn’t do well at the Lou Bronzan,” Clinton Schaad said.
The Warriors will try to put that disappointment behind them this weekend, as they continue to rack up the miles with trips to three different tournaments.
While Thunder Lewis sits out this weekend, Wyatt Lewis is competing at the very competitive Doc Buchanan tournament in Clovis, which could be the toughest high school tournament of the year and includes the top-15 teams in the state and three of the top five teams in the nation.
“It’s a national tournament in California,” said Clinton Schaad, who added ‘It’s considerably tougher than the state championships.”
Del Norte will also travel for the Tim Brown tournament in Sacramento and the Eureka High tournament.
“It definitely takes a village,” the coach said with a chuckle.
This year’s team is senior-heavy, but several underclassmen are showing plenty of promise and buying into the program, including freshmen Daniel Burshem and Lucas Lopez.
“We have 17 underclassmen who are all working very hard,” Clinton Schaad said. “I like their tenacity and their willingness to work hard. They’re coachable, and if you put all of that together you have the recipe for a good team.”
