For the first time in league history, a Little 4 standout has been named the CalHiSports Division-5 Boys Athlete of the Year.
And that’s not all for the Little 4, which also earned two of the four honorable mentions for the award while dominating the state small schools division..
Shortly after being named Humboldt Sports Little 4 Boys co-Athlete of the Year, Ferndale’s Tanner Pidgeon has now added the CalHiSports state athlete of the year award to his long list of accomplishments.
According to Mark Tennis’ CalHiSports story announcing the news, Pidgeon is “the first-ever state athlete of the year for small schools or D5 from the Humboldt-Del Norte region of the CIF North Coast Section.”
Click here for the complete story.
Pidgeon, who has been impressing during the preseason for the College of the Redwoods football team, was a three-sport star at Ferndale High, representing the Wildcats in football, basketball and baseball.
He was a two-time conference MVP as a senior, earning the honors in football and baseball, while also receiving All-League honors on the basketball court.
“He pretty much did it all for a Wildcats’ (football) squad that began the season with eight straight shutouts and finished with one of the top scoring margins of any team in California history at 769-74,” Tennis wrote.
Pidgeon is the first CalHiSports D5 athlete of the year from the North Coast Section since 2022.
Tennis also included four Honorable Mentions in his story, two of whom also competed in the Little 4.
Pidgeon’s Ferndale teammate Prescott Langer earned the honor, along with St. Bernard’s Tyler Hinirchs.
Langer was a co-MVP in L4 football last fall along with Pidgeon and the two standouts were also named the school’s co-Athlete of the Year.
Like Pidgeon, Hinrichs also was a two-time conference MVP as a senior, earning the award in Big 4 football and sharing the honor with Pidgeon in L4 baseball.
