Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Luke Lemke

By Ray Hamill — Senior Luke Lemke enjoyed a night for the ages last week with a career performance for the Arcata High boys basketball team.

Lemke scored 51 points to lead his team to a much-needed win over the Fortuna Huskies, and that makes him one of this week’s Humboldt Sports Athletes of the Week.

The incredible performance, which was one of the most dominating we’ve seen here on the North Coast in some time, also earned Lemke some national recognition, and he has been nominated for Sports Illustrated’s National High School Athlete of the Week.

The senior guard continued to impress against rival McKinleyville on Thursday night, scoring a game-high 25 points, but it was the Panthers who prevailed 66-51 to take control of the race for this year’s Big 5 championship.

Under the guidance of head coach Chris Davis, the Panthers improved to 4-0 in the B5 with the win and they are two wins clear of the chasing pack halfway through their conference schedule.

And that makes the McKinleyville boys our choice for Humboldt Sports Team of the Week.

Rounding out our weekly awards this week is a Del Norte wrestler.

The most dominating high school wrestling program in the H-DNL has arguably gotten even better this year with the return to the area of brothers Thunder and Wyatt Lewis.

Both grapplers are legitimate state contenders having placed in the CIF meet in each of the past two seasons.

This past weekend, Wyatt traveled to compete at the Doc Buchanan tournament in Clovis — a tournament that Del Norte head coach Clinton Schaad describes as one of the toughest in the nation — and he finished fifth in his weight division.

And that makes the junior standout our second athlete of the week this week.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK 

Luke Lemke

Arcata Basketball, Senior

Lemke was, as they say, in the zone when the Arcata Tigers hosted the Fortuna Huskies in a Big 5 showdown last Thursday.

The senior guard was unstoppable on his way to a career-high 51 points on a night the Arcata fans in attendance won’t easily forget.

“I’ve never seen a performance like that,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said afterwards. “He just had a different gear tonight.”

Lemke, who was a Big 5 MVP as a sophomore and also helped lead the Tigers to a first-ever state championship in football as a junior, has been the best high school basketball player in the H-DNL this winter and that was on full display against Fortuna.

For more on his big week, see Unstoppable Lemke explodes for 51 points in career performance …

Wyatt Lewis

Del Norte Wrestling, Junior

Lewis is enjoying another big season on the mats this winter and will be expected to make some serious noise in the postseason, along with his older brother.

This past weekend, he traveled south for the Doc Buchanan tournament and got some valuable experience against some of the best grapplers in the nation.

“He wrestled really well,” Schaad said. “It was a really solid performance for Wyatt.”

TEAM OF THE WEEK 

McKinleyville Boys Basketball

The Panthers are setting the standard in the Big 5 through the opening half of conference play.

With victories over all four of their Big 5 rivals, the Mack boys are 4-0 and two wins clear of the field as they get set for a bye next Tuesday before beginning the stretch run of what they hope will be a championship season.

On Thursday, they continued to roll with a dominating win over their biggest rivals in front of their home fans, taking control of the game with a big second quarter.

The win was the teams’ fourth straight as the Panthers improved to 13-7 on the season.

For more on their big week, see BIG 5 — Panthers take control; Loggers remain in contention