Another regular season has come to an end with the Warriors still  on the mountaintop despite repeated attempts by the other teams to push them off.

The Del Norte High varsity volleyball team won its 21st straight Big 5 Conference title with a 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20 win on the road against the McKinleyville Panthers Tuesday night, winning the Big 5 crown outright.

To be the squad the other conference teams are gunning for year after year after year and always being able to reload is something the Warriors have perfected to a science.

Despite returning only two starters from last season and a total of four seniors and losing one of their best players in Katie Rinkevicz midseason due to a knee injury, Del Norte put aside the naysayers and just went out and played as a team

“I’m really happy for the girls,” Warrior co-coach Pablo Lorenzi said. “The girls did what they needed to do to win the title. It just proves if you work hard and work together you will get the result that you want.”

This was a true team effort as several Warriors had excellent games.

This included senior Kristen DeBacker, who led the team with 25 kills. Senior Paula Rhodes had a great all-around game with 12 kills, 12 digs, two aces and 25 assists.

Al Young poses with his bowling ball in front of the Tsunami Lanes bowling alley. On Friday, Young achieved a rare 7-10 split. The Daily Triplicate/Rick Postal

The split occurs when all that is remaining for a bowler to hit is  the leftmost and the rightmost pin in the back row and is able to knock them down with a single ball to achieve a spare.

Young, 77, was able to make the 7-10 split Friday night at the Tsunami Lanes bowling alley.

“I don’t really know what all the excitement about the 7-10 split is except that you don’t see it very often,” Young said. The 7-10 split occurs less frequently than bowling a 300 game. Young was playing in the Friday MatchUps League as a member of the ‘Whatever’ squad when the split occurred.

Young, who considers himself an average bowler that normally bowls in the 130 to 200 range, said he was quite calm when the chance presented itself to make the split and told himself that he was going to make it and to be positive.

Young recalled that he hit the  seven pin “just right” and it struck the 10 pin, which started to lean. “Everyone was looking and it just fell over,” he said. “It was amazing.”

Former Del Norte High football player Trevor Rook, left, runs with the football for Shasta College during a game on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Ray Rook

Freshman Mitch McDevitt, a backup linebacker, had an interception in the fourth quarter for the Knights.  He returned the ball 15 yards for a score.

Fullback Trevor Rook, a sophomore, ran for around 40 yards and a score in the contest. For the year he has rushed for 203 yards and three scores.

Sophomore Saxon Schultz, the starting tight end, had three catches for the game. For the season Schultz had 235 yards receiving and  three touchdowns.

The win improves Shasta to 4-5 for the year. The squad concludes the regular season  against College of the Redwoods in Eureka on Nov. 14.

Sophomore Kathryn Gustafson during a Del Norte High girls tennis team match in Crescent City earlier this season. On Saturday, Gustafson won the No. 1 seed at the Humboldt-Del Norte Conference championships in Fortuna. By winning the title Gustafson qualifies for North Coast Sections. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Warrior sophomore Kathryn Gustafson, the top seed, downed senior Jenna Madsen of Eureka 6-3, 6-1 in Fortuna on Saturday to earn the conference crown at the HDNC championships. Now she will move on to compete in the North Coast Section Singles championships in Santa Rosa on Nov. 17.

She went 11-1 in HDNC play this year. Her only loss came against Abi Black of Arcata after she had just returned from fighting a flu and was not 100 percent.

On Saturday, Gustafson had a first round bye and defeated Hannah Puttre of Northcoast Prep in two sets for the right to play in the title match.

“I was kind of shocked I would do this well,” said Gustafson, 14, who won the No. 4 singles title last year as a freshman.

Warrior head coach Trudi Zottola-Gugliemini commended Gustafson for her outstanding play, saying her performance was the best she has seen her on the tennis court all year.

Anakin Schneck, with ball, returns a kickoff for big yardage for the Del Norte Youth Football A Blue team on Sunday. The Blue squad earned the win against Brookings 19-13 at home to end the season at 3-5. The Daily Triplicate/Rick Postal

In the AAA game Del Norte   downed Eureka 34-14 to finish the regular season at 7-1. The squad has a first round bye in the playoffs and will next play at home on Nov. 15 at 3 p.m.

The AA Blue team downed Brookings 26-0 and finished at 7-0. They have a first round playoff bye and will be home at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 at home.

The AA Gold team defeated McKinleyville Black 23-0 to finish 8-0. The Gold squad has a first round playoff bye and will play on Nov. 15 at 12:30 p.m. at Ferndale High School.

In the A division the Del Norte White team earned the win against MYF 13-6 to finish the season at 6-2.

The team will play in a first round playoff game on Sunday against MYF at South Fork High School starting at 11:30 a.m. If they win they will play on Nov. 15 at home at Del Norte High School starting at 10 a.m.

The DNYF A Blue team defeated Brookings 19-13 and completed the season at 3-5. The Del Norte Gold team lost to Eureka on the road 20-19 and finished the year at 2-6.

For more information go to the DNYF Website at www.dnyf.org .

McCovey, a true freshman, is  at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, a two-year college which took second in the nation for JC wrestling programs last season.

McCovey had a great start Friday night by pinning opponent Jim Eavenson of Montana State University-Northern at the 4:22 mark. The team won the home match 36-6.

On Saturday, North Idaho faced Division 1-A program Boise State in Spokane, Wash., losing 30-12.

McCovey wrestled senior Sam Zylstra and lost a close match by the score of 4-3.

Local fans of McCovey will  have a chance to see him wrestle if they don’t mind driving to Coos Bay, Ore. On Jan. 14 North Idaho will travel to face South­western Oregon Community College in Coos Bay starting at 7 p.m.

Roy Ward of the Del Norte High varsity football team runs with the ball against Eureka at home on Friday night. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

In a fairly thick fog at times that covered the field,  Del Norte  took an early lead against Eureka but struggled the majority of the way, with some life shown near the end of the fourth quarter to lose in Big 4 Conference action 35-12.

To start the contest, the Loggers received the ball, with the Warriors containing them on defense.

Del Norte made the most of their first possession on offense. First, quarterback Thor Hadfield found receiver Nate Bruder from the 48-yard line of Eureka as the Warriors moved down to the 31.

Del Norte continued to move down the field as Christian Alexandre ran his way for the score from the two-yard-line with 6:40 left as the home crowd cheered the Warriors’ successful drive. Del Norte tried for two, but a penalty was called, and on the second try Del Norte went for the point after and missed to make things 6-0.

On the next possession it appeared that the Warriors would contain the Loggers again with a 4-and-3 on the 43-yard-line of Del Norte. But Eureka went for it and got the first down.

Cody Hoffman practices in BYU’s LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. Photo courtesy of Mark A. Philbrick, BYU

The former Del Norte High standout at wide receiver is now a freshman with the Brigham Young University Cougars of the Mountain West Conference.

“It’s going good,” Hoffman, 18, said during a telephone interview Tuesday from Provo, Utah. “It’s a lot different than high school, but it’s a lot of fun.”

“It started to snow here today,” he added. “That’s a big difference.”

After an outstanding gridiron career with the Warriors, Hoff­man, who was born and raised in Del Norte, accepted a full ride to BYU, a top-tier football program that has already won an NCAA football title and has sent numerous players to the NFL.

“It’s a big program,” Hoff­man said. “They know how to win games.”

Chuck Blackburn hits a hole-in-one in town

Del Norte soccer teams finish season at Mack

Gastineau takes 4th at cross country meet

Sign-ups for Rec. Dept. basketball coming up

Warriors homecoming game being shown

Sign-ups happening for dodgeball and soccer

Local swim club to host open house Nov. 2

Del Norte High senior Kristen DeBacker, right, hits the ball during a game against Fortuna Tuesday night. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Del Norte downed the Huskies 21-25, 25-11, 25-20, 25-19 to improve to 5-1 in the conference and 14-10 overall.

With the win the Warriors maintained first place in the Big 5 with two games remaining.

Kristen DeBacker led the  Warriors with 22 kills, while the entire team stepped things up after an off first game. 

The team’s seniors were honored before the contest. Senior members of the Warriors are Debacker, Lexie Nelson, Paula Rhodes and Katie Rinkevicz.

Del Norte hoped to have a better game than their last meeting with the Huskies when they fell in three games in Fortuna.

Things did not start off well at all as Del Norte dropped the first game 25-21 in front of a stunned home crowd.