By Ray Hamill — The Panthers appear to be peaking on the wrestling mats at the right time.

Coming off strong team performances in tournament action on each of the past two weekends, the McKinleyville wrestling team will head to Clear Lake High School on Saturday for the North Coast Section Division-3 Dual Meet Championships,

And the defending NCS champs will be hoping to make it two straight titles and three all-time.

Whether they can achieve that remains to be seen, but judging by their performances the past two weekends, there’s every reason to believe they can make some serious noise in the first NCS postseason tournament of the year once again.

“We’ve wrestled really good the last two weekends,” longtime McKinleyville head coach Virgil Morehead said. “We’ve got a shot. I just want them to go and perform as best as they can. We’ll see what happens. They’re excited.”

The Panthers traveled for the 2026 Puma Classic at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa this past Saturday and placed 11th out of 47 teams, scoring 84 points, just one point out of a top-nine finish.

Moorehead described the tournament as the “premier” annual tournament in the NCS, and his wrestlers acquitted themselves very well against far larger schools.

Five of the team’s eight varsity wrestlers to make the trip placed in their weight divisions, including impressive senior Thurman Henderson, who finished third at 140 pounds.

Henderson also reached the final in his weight division at the previous weekend’s Corning tournament and also fared well at the recent Lou Bronzan tournament, barely losing 3-2 to the No. 10 wrestler in the state.

“He’s improving every week,” Moorehead said of the senior standout.

Three other Panthers finished sixth at the Puma Classic, including senior Na-Tess Marquez at 134, sophomore Mason Ruiz at 152, and senior Braden Pinard at 215.

Rounding out a good team performance, sophomore Francisco Mendez placed seventh at 146.

Pinard has been one of the team’s most consistent wrestlers and has placed at every tournament he has competed in this winter.

And he’s done it in just his second year competing on the mats. 

“That in itself is really impressive,” Moorehead said.

Mendez also has impressed, especially for such a young wrestler.

“The next two years are pretty promising for him,” the McKinleyville coach said. “He’s doing well.”

Mendez also had a good day at the Corning tournament and reached the final in his weight class to lead a strong team performance along with Henderson.

“That was probably one of our best team performances in terms of all the kids doing well,” Moorehead said. “We’re wrestling at a pretty good level right now. 

“They’re placing at all of their tournaments. In that sense I’m really stoked and proud of them.”

The McKinleyville JVs have also looked good this winter, turning in a strong team performance at the Ukiah tournament this past weekend and showcasing a bright future for the team.

“And we’ve got a good group coming in (nest year),” said Moorehead, whose son coaches the McKinleyville youth program. “They’re on board.”

For now, however, Moorehead and the Panthers will be focused on this week’s NCS meet and possibly bringing home another winning pennant.

The Panthers will make the trip with 11 wrestlers for the 14 weight divisions.

“We’ve wrestled pretty good on back-to-back weekends, so we’ll see how we do this weekend,” Moorehead said.