Ferndale runs wild on Warriors

Little 5 power takes down Big 4 foe 47-6

Senior running back Christian Alexandre of Del Norte High makes a run versus Ferndale at home Friday night. Del Norte lost 47-6. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

This included causing three fumbles and an interception in the first half of play for the Warriors.

Unfortunately for Del Norte things went downhill in a hurry from there. The Wildcats, of the Little 5 Conference, showed that despite being a small school they   are an impressive ball team on any level, downing Del Norte of the Big 4 Conference 47-6 in Crescent City.

A key reason for the Wildcats’ dominance was a brilliant performance by senior running back Jacob Coppini, who ran the ball 27 times for 249 yards.

For the contest Del Norte rushed the ball 35 times for 145 yards and had 189 total yards.

While the defense gave the offense decent field position from its fumble recoveries there was a problem. And that was that the Del Norte offense could not move the ball down the field as the Wildcats completely contained them.

Ferndale scored near the end of the half as the Warriors found themselves down 19-0 at the half.

The Wildcats continued to score  seemingly at will in the second half for the convincing victory.

The Wildcats improved to 3-0 for the season after dismantling their first three opponents 53-0, 42-16 and now 47-6.

After a nice 6-0 opening season win against Hidden Valley of Oregon last week, Del Norte is now 1-1 for the year.

While on paper Ferndale only has under 200 students compared to nearly 1,000 for Del Norte, that has never stopped this Wildcat program from beating up on much larger schools.

This has happened countless times over the years, including a 35-6 win versus Fortuna of the Big 4 last year.

The Warriors and Wildcats have not meet on the gridiron for several years.

Del Norte received the ball first to start the game and had a few nice runs and moved the ball down to around their 50 yard line. But the stout Ferndale defense gave them nothing else.

When the Wildcats  got on  the field during warm-ups before the game they were only 20 player suited up compared to more than double that for Del Norte.

It made no difference as Ferndale showed right away that all the hype about this small Humboldt County school was for real. They may be a  small school of under 200 students  but on the football field they are beasts and quickly scored thanks to a 15-yard run by Coppini.

A short time later the Wildcats scored on a quarterback keeper by Frankie Griggs  to give them a 13-0 lead with a little more than five minutes left in the first quarter. On the extra point the Warriors blocked the kick.

Then, the Warriors started to really step up on defense. This included  Roy Ward slapping a ball loose with Kai Lemrise retrieving it.

Later in the first half, Lemrise  again got a fumble. Also, Greg Kirby recovered a ball for Del Norte.

But again, Del Norte could not get the ball down the field as the stingy Wildcat defense gave them zip to work with.

Near the end of the half, Nate Bruder had an interception for Del Norte at around the 16-yard line of the Warriors.

But  Warrior starting quarterback Thor Hadfield threw a pick deep in Del Norte territory.

Ferndale took advantage and scored at the end of the half for the 19-0 halftime lead.

Things did not start off well for Del Norte in the second half.

Coppini ran in for another touchdown run, this time for 15 yards, as the lead went up to 27-0 after a two-point play as all the silent Warrior faithful could do was watch.

On the goal line at the start of the fourth quarter Coppini ran in for yet another touchdown as the Wildcats extended the lead to  34-0.

In the middle of this total domination by Ferndale, Del Norte had a nice drive in the fourth quarter when they were down 41-0.

They were able to move the ball down the field. The Warriors threatened to score when Austin Carpenter caught a long pass all the way to the five-yard line from Layton O’Reilley, who came in at quarterback. Finally Del Norte scored on a short run by Christian Alexandre with 5:02 left in the contest. The two-point conversion failed and the score was 41-6.

The Wildcats smashed in for another score with under four minutes left in the game to make it 47-6, although the kick was partially blocked.

Next week, the Warriors will play in an away game on Friday in the Bay Area versus Amador Valley.

After a bye the following week, Del Norte opens the Big 4 season on Oct. 9. Del Norte will face rival Eureka on the road.

JV Game

Del Norte 17, Ferndale 0

In the junior varsity game Del Norte won 17-0 over Ferndale.

Highlights included a 50-yard touchdown run by Julian Markussen. The Warriors improved to 1-1 for the year.