Del Norte keeps on rolling

Passing game, defense make strong showings

The Warriors defense swarms over the Bruins’ Jacob McKinney during Friday night’s game at Mike Whalen Field. Del Norte dominated the proceedings to improve to a sterling 3-0 record for the season. The Bruins dropped to 1-2 for the year. For more photos, go to triplicate.com/photos The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

While the Warriors’ running game dominated in the first two contests of the year, the passing game was also quite active Friday night, going 10-for-10 in the first half with a score.

The defense were also beasts, picking up two fumbles for scores.

“When you get to scoop up two passes and your defense scores twice you’re having a good night,” Del Norte head coach Ray Rook said.

After Brookings rushed for an impressive 440 yards and five scores in a 64-15 win against Bandon last week, the Bruins stalled against Del Norte.

Warrior senior Collin Taylor rushed for 150 yards and three scores and continued his excellent season after rushing for nearly 500 yards in his first two games.

Brookings rushed for 173 yards — with most of that yardage coming in the second half — compared to 320 yards for Del Norte. The Warriors finished with 102 yards passing.

“I’m happy,” Rook said about how his team did. “We made some mental mistakes, but overall I like how we played on both sides of the ball.”

The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

On the Warriors’ first possession they ran an efficient 10-play drive, mixing both running and passing to move down the field. The drive stalled on the 11-yard line with a 4th and 6 looming. Del Norte decided to go for it. It paid off when senior quarterback Julian Markussen found tight end Darien Simpson for a 13-yard score with 4:30 left in the opening quarter. The extra point was no good.

On the next Bruins offensive possession, Simpson showed he’s also a force on defense and caused a fumble to give Del Norte excellent field possession on the Bruins’ 20-yard line. On a 3rd and 15 Markussen did a nice fake to Taylor as the offensive line parted the sea of Bruins, and Markussen ran 15 yards for the score to make it 12-0 with 2:59 left in the opening quarter. The extra point was missed.

Near the end of the quarter Markussen found Kody Osborne for 46 yards deep into Bruins terrority. The drive continued in the second quarter. From the 15-yard line Taylor bounced to the side and was nearly tripped up but kept his balance and went in for the score to make things 18-0 with 11:16 left.

Del Norte got the ball again a short time later, and again Taylor scored from 16 yards out with 8:32 left. The extra kick made the score 25-0 with 8:32 left as the domination continued — so much so that the Warriors marching band was already playing the Queen classic “Another One Bites the Dust.”

Near the end of the half the Bruins finally sustained a drive and got to the Warrior 10-yard line. But the Warriors held them to no points with 1:53 left as the half ended.

At the start of the second half, Del Norte could not drive much down the field on offense.

But the defense stepped it up when they got a fumble and Jordan Carpenter grabbed the ball and ran 15 yards for the score with 9:40 remaining as the scoreboard read 32-0.

 A short time later, the Warriors defense did it again when the ball was put on the ground by the Bruins and Simpson picked it up and ran for the score with 6 minutes left in the third quarter as the score read 39-0.

In the fourth quarter Taylor ran down the field 28 yards for the touchdown with 10:03 left in the final quarter. With the extra point missed, the score was 45-0.

The Bruins finally scored on a 70-yard run by Tyler Lueckfeld with 8:34 left in the game. Brookings-Harbor scored on a 2-point conversion to make things 45-8.

Later, Del Norte senior Bronson Richards ran in a touchdown from the 26-yard line with 3:52 left to put 52-8 on the scoreboard. The score would remain unchanged.

In the second half Del Norte suffered an injury to a key player when Austin Moore, a senior team captain and starter on both sides of the ball, suffered a knee injury while playing defense. Rook said after the game that they were examining him but potentially it could be serious.

Del Norte opens the Big 5 Conference season at home next Friday against McKinleyville starting at 7:30 p.m.