Huskies run over Warriors 47-8

DN Warrior Kody Henderson makes long kickoff return to set up lone TD

Del Norte High wide receiver Austin Carpenter throws the ball on a hook and ladder play during the team’s homecoming game against Fortuna Friday night. The Warriors lost 47-8. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

The Del Norte Warriors continued to struggle on the football field and were dominated 47-8 by the Fortuna Huskies on homecoming night on Friday.

Del Norte had its share of problems stopping the run and putting points on the board  against Fortuna. The team has scored only a single touchdown in each of the five games they have played this year.

The Warriors started off well in their second Big 4 Conference contest of the year as the defense did a good job stopping the explosive Huskies, who scored all their touchdowns in the first half in a 44-0 win over Arcata last Friday.

The Warriors kept Fortuna off the scoreboard until 19 seconds left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, down 13-0 Del Norte showed signs of life thanks to Kody Henderson. On a kickoff return Henderson bobbled the ball for a moment  and nearly slipped. But he was able to regain his footing, broke a barrage of Husky tacklers, and ran down the field and nearly scored a touchdown as the homecoming crowd cheered the turn of events.

Brandon Kakitsuka proceeded to rumble in for the score from five yards out with 9:22 left in the second quarter.

The Warriors went for two and scored thanks to Layton O’Reilley and trailed only 13-8, giving the Warrior faithful hope that the team’s fortunes would turn Friday night.

The Huskies had other plans and scored one more time to make things 21-8 at the half.

In the scored half the Warriors were unable to move the ball on offense or stop the run as Fortuna scored four more times to cruise to the victory.

Del Norte High homecoming queen Gabriela Ramirez and her father Isidro Ramirez during the halftime festivities during the football game Friday night. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

Del Norte continued to struggle with their passing game going only 4-for-18 for 40 yards.

The running game did all right and rumbled 38 times for more than 140 yards.

Del Norte continued to have  difficulties with penalties and had nine called for a loss of around 80 yards, and they fumbled the ball three times.

The Huskies passed the ball for only six times for 39 yards and ran the ball 47 times for 212 yards.

This was an improvement for Del Norte, who gave up 370 yards on the ground in a 55-6 loss to Eureka last week.

Del Norte fell to 1-4 for the year and 0-2 in the Big 4.

Fortuna improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference,

In the junior varsity game the Warriors fell to the Huskies 21-0 to drop to 1-4 for the season.

On Friday the Warriors travel to Arcata to face the Tigers.

The JV game begins at 5 p.m. with the varsity game starts at 7:30 p.m.