Young Warriors appear to be the team to beat in H-DNL wrestling

On Saturday, the Del Norte boys beat out 13 other teams to place first at the North Coast Classic at Eureka High with yet another strong tournament showing.

“I thought we wrestled really well,” head coach Clinton Schaad said. “There’s always matches you want back. It’s almost impossible to wrestle the perfect tournament, but overall we wrestled good enough to win the tournament.”

The tournament was held without spectators after the H-DNL recently implemented a temporary no-spectator mandate for all league sporting events, and only 14 of the anticipated 25 schools were able to compete because of COVID protocols.

“A lot of teams had people out,” Schaad said. “We’re all just kind of working our way through it right now. We were down a couple of wrestlers as well.”

The Del Norte boys placed first in three of the 13 weight classes, as well as second in three others, while the girls had two champions and one runner-up.

With a limited number of girls at the tournament, there was no team championship handed out.

For the boys, Del Norte’s Alexander Osbourne (106 pounds), Andre Aflegue (113) and Brandon Jones (195) all won their weight divisions, while Savannah Williams (131) and Adenne Schaad (150) placed first for the girls.

Eric Stansbury (123), Curtis Bartley (135) and RJ Loftin (173) each also placed second for the boys in their weight classes, while Channey Schaad finished second for the girls at 111.

Overall, it was another strong showing by a young Del Norte roster that features predominantly freshmen and sophomores this year.

And the head coach knows just how good they could be after working with many of them within the Del Norte youth wrestling program.

“We kind of knew the kids when they were younger so we kind of knew we had something going on with this group,” he said. “As they get older and mature, they could be something special. Time will tell.”

This is also the first full high school season for most of them, after the pandemic resulted in just a brief three-week season last year.

COVID protocols continue to affect the Warriors, who not only have been competing without spectators for the past two weeks but also are being tested twice a week and don’t know from week to week how many wrestlers will be available.

But that has given many of them a bigger appreciation for the sport.

“We had a wonky season last year, and I think because of that they appreciate it all this year,” Clinton Schaad said. “It’s just a matter of keep training on days you can train, and wrestle when you can. That’s where we are right now.”

The head coach is hoping to have his full roster back and available for the league championships on Feb. 12, which will be held at Del Norte High and hopefully with fans in attendance.

The league-wide no-spectator mandate is scheduled to end Monday, so fans should be allowed to attend when the Warriors travel to Eureka for their final H-DNL dual meet next Wednesday.

The team was scheduled to travel for a tournament in Santa Rosa this weekend, but it was canceled because of COVID concerns.

Instead, the Warriors will now travel to Coos Bay, Oregon, for a dual meet tournament, with the varsity boys, the girls and JVs all scheduled to compete.

“Overall, I’m really happy with how the kids have wrestled,” Clinton Schaad said. “Happy, but not satisfied.”