Submitted photo – The McKinleyville Panthers at the NCS dual team championships on Saturday.

It was another good showing for the H-DNL wrestlers at the North Coast Section Team Dual Championships on Saturday, but they could not quite match the success the league has enjoyed in each of the past two seasons.

After claiming a pair of championships in both 2024 and 2025, the league had two schools reach Saturday’s finals at Lower Lake High School, but both unfortunately came up just short.

The Del Norte Warriors reached the championship final in the Division-2 Redwood Empire bracket but lost by one point to Ukiah, while the McKinleyville Panthers qualified for the Division-3 decider but lost to Willits.

The Warriors were the two-time defending champs in their bracket and the final appearance was their seventh straight, while the Panthers were the defending D-3 champs, following Hoopa’s championship in 2024.

“I think we did pretty good. I was pleased,” McKinleyville head coach Virgil Moorehead said. “It could always be better, but they gave it their best effort and that’s all I could ask for.”

The Panthers opened the day with a 52-21 win over Fort Bragg and then got the better of Kelseyville 47-36 in their semifinal.

The Wolverines, however, would prevail in the final by a score of 45-30.

Among the highlights for the Panthers, Thurman Henderson and Na-Tess Marquez both won all three of their matches on the day.

Moorehead traveled with 24 wrestlers, including several freshmen and sophomores, in order to give them a taste of what NCS competition is about.

“I wanted them to see it,” the longtime coach said. “It’s kind of exciting. I think they enjoyed it.”

The Warriors, meanwhile, lost by just one point in a closely-contested final.

“It was a close one with several calls that could have gone either way,” Del Norte head coach Clinton Schaad said.

Both teams will now turn their attention to next weekend’s H-DL championships, which will be hosted by McKinleyville at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Lumberjack Arena.