Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — Get ready for a new-look H-DNL this fall.

With the new high school football season fast approaching, the league’s 11-player programs will play a new-look schedule in 2026.

All eight schools will face off against each other once each, although only games against conference teams will count in the race for the Big 4 and Little 4 championships.

The new format eases the burden on teams when it comes to scheduling game against out-of-area teams, with many out-of-area schools unwilling to make the trip to the North Coast.

The new schedule will also be beneficial for the local programs from a budgeting point of view.

And many of the league’s coaches are in favor of the change.

“Honestly, I like it,” Eureka head coach Sam Edmonds said. “It’s been tough to schedule games with out-of-town teams.”

Del Norte head coach Nick White also is in favor of the switch, and if anything he believes it’s overdue.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” said White, who returns to the sideline this fall for the first time since 2022. “It made sense back then (2022), but now with the playoffs changing and with Ferndale beating everybody last year it’s kind of like everybody’s in the same league.

“It’s pretty even. It’s been really competitive in the H-DNL with all the teams, and I like that.”

The switch is one St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin has been advocating for a while.

“I’m a big fan of the new schedule,” said Tomlin, who has proposed the switch in the past. “I don’t like playing anybody twice when you have 10 games, and I do believe we’re at a time where there’s great parity (in the H-DNL). For me, I like playing everybody once.”

Second-year McKinleyville head coach Jason Benge also is in favor of the new format.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us trying to compete with Fortuna and Del Norte and those bigger schools. It’ll be interesting.”

Only the games against conference rivals will count in the conference standings, and a Big 4 and Little 4 championship will be decided.

Each team will now play just three conference games, instead of the six we’ve become accustomed to in recent years.