Basketball

as they went 16-8 during the regular season and finished second in the Big 5. Del Norte was also able to edge out a win in their firstround playoff game, but they faced eventual NCS Division 4 champ University in the second round and found themselves overmatched as they lost decisively.

The Warriors return eight players from that team including Ethan Thomas and Cooper Maxwell, two stars of the football team who will join the squad now that the fall season has concluded. Del Norte should once again be a competitive squad, but the team would have to take a significant step forward to compete with the elite teams in NCS Division 4.

Eureka Loggers

Eureka struggled to a 9-17 record last year and the Loggers were unable to pull a first-round playoff upset as they only posted 31 points in their game against Justin-Siena. But the team does return the league’s top scorer in forward Caden Vance, who averaged 16 points per game last season. Eureka also returns impressive guard Hans Chalmers, who was a top-ten scorer in the league. With their two best players returning and plenty of size on the roster, they’ll look to build on last season with a much more competitive showing this year.

The Loggers are among the few North Coast teams who got their season started already as Eureka played Kelseyville last week. It was a strong opening game for the Loggers as they got the win, 66-45. The team will play in a tournament at McKinleyville next week.

Fortuna Huskies

The Huskies are coming off a rough year as they finished narrowly behind Eureka in last place of the Big 5 league, but actually posted a better overall record at 10-17. Fortuna then had the misfortune of facing University in their opening-round playoff game. It was an ugly affair that saw the Huskies lose by more than 50. Despite that tough loss to end the season, it was more a result of University’s dominance as the team beat every tournament opponent they faced by double digits.

There’s reason for optimism for the Huskies as they return their top scorer from last season, Alfonso Medina. Medina has plenty of potential to improve as he was only a sophomore when he led Fortuna in scoring last year. The sizable wing was not far off the scoring pace of the league’s top players at 15.7 points per game and the improvement is already showing after Fortuna had an impressive opening game to their season last week. The Huskies blew out Fort Bragg, a team that finished ahead of Fortuna last year, by a score of 8342.

Fortuna will face Ukiah and then South Fork on Tuesday before playing in a tournament on Dec. 1.

McKinleyville Panthers

McKinleyville narrowly finished behind Del Norte in the league standings last year with a 16-9 record, but the Panthers were actually seeded ahead of the Warriors in the NCS Tournament. The Panthers didn’t disappoint as they easily beat Fort Bragg before falling to Justin-Siena in the second round.

The Panthers did lose one of their top two scorers in Owen Hamm, but they return guard Cody Whitmer as they look to build on last year’s success with an even better showing this winter. McKinleyville opens its season with a game against Kelseyville before facing San Lorenzo in a tournament to start next month.

St. Bernard’s Crusaders

To cap things off, the defending NorCal Division 6 champion Crusaders will look to make back-to-back titles after their impressive postseason run last year. St. Bernard’s is the surefire favorite to win the Little 4 league, although they actually finished second in the regular season last year to South Fork. Their 24-8 record showed signs of vulnerability as the program still doesn’t appear to be on the same level as their Big 5 counterparts after dropping games to Arcata, Del Norte, and Eureka.

But the Crusaders were nothing short of dominant at their own Division 6 level, and will likely only be better this year. Although they lost a regular season game last year to Redding Christian, they edged out a revenge win in the playoff semifinal before cruising to victory against top-seeded Weed. While the competition was close last year, St. Bernard’s is trending upwards as they return most of their stars from last year’s championship team.

St. Bernard’s returns three of their top four scorers from last year. And arguably the squad’s two best players, Aaidan Burris and Seth Dyer, are still only juniors. With so much returning talent, there’s no reason to doubt the Crusaders’ chances of winning another Division 6 title. The Crusaders will open their season with a weekend of tournament games at Upper Lake High School, the first of which will be Dec. 1 against Maxwell.