Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The H-DNL league championships were held at Lumberjack Arena 10 days ago.

Del Norte’s Lewis brothers both won individual championships at the weekend North Coast Section Division-2 Redwood Empire Divisional boys tournament in wrestling, along with teammate Remington Escobedo.

The tournament, which took place in Novato, is the first round of a new Section postseason format, which includes a Masters Tournament at James Logan High School this weekend.

Senior Thunder Lewis placed first at 126 pounds, while his younger brother Wyatt, a junior, placed first at 157.

Escobedo, a junior who is hoping to make a return trip to the state championships, got his postseason under way with an impressive showing, taking home a divisional title at 150 pounds. 

The H-DNL had one other winner at the D-2 tournament, with Arcata’s Chase Bickmore taking top spot at 144.

In the team competition, the Del Norte boys placed third overall out of 27 schools with 201 points.

Ukiah placed first in the bracket with 255 points followed by Windsor in second with 220.5, while Arcata (140.5) placed fifth, Fortuna (126.5) was eighth and Eureka (73) was 14th.

Among the highlight individual performances for the H-DNL, Eureka’s Logan Hunter (106) and Del Norte’s Chulhs Bates (120) both placed second in their brackets, while Fortuna’s Tyson Evanow (144), Jack Chipman (165) and Brayden Timmerman (165), Del Norte’s David Bushem (113) and Davion Johnson (190), and Arcata’s Silven Yoder (126) each placed third.

The boys Division-3 championships were also held over the weekend at Clear Lake High School, and it was a good day for several of the H-DNL wrestlers.

Six of the league’s boys placed first out of the 14 brackets, including four McKinleyville Panthers and two Ferndale Wildcats.

Hoopa also traveled for the tournament and had two wrestlers place second, while St. Bernard’s had one wrestler place second and another third.

With their strong 4-0 showing in the championship round, the Panthers placed second as a team out of 22 schools.

The Mack boys scored 151 points, behind only Willits (183), with St. Bernard’s (70.5) finishing 11th, Hoopa (62) 12th and Ferndale (55.5) 14th.

Na-tess Marquez took first place for McKinleyville at 132 pounds, as did teammates Thurman Henderson (138), Francisco Mendez (144) and Brayden Pinard (190).

There was an all-local showdown in the heavyweight final between Ferndale’s Angel Zaragoza and St. Bernard’s Dustin Barber, with the Wildcats standout prevailing 7-0.

Ferndale’s Preston Killingsworth also placed first at 160 pounds to cap a good day for the Wildcats.

The Hoopa boys had two second-place finishers, with Donald Hostler (165) and Santiago Moon (175) both reaching their finals.

St. Bernard’s Kohlton Hall (190) and McKinleyville’s Colby Thomson (215) each finished third in their weight divisions.