Honoring the Warriors

Awards ceremony held Wed. evening

Members of the Del Norte High varsity football team huddle in the middle of the field during a game against Arcata on Nov. 3 in Crescent City. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Head varsity coach Ray Rook said that “it’s important to acknowledge the hard work and effort,” of this past season.

Del Norte had a solid year in both varsity and junior varsity football. The varsity squad finished the year 7-4 and earned a berth in the Northcoast Section Division III playoffs for the second consecutive year. After winning a single game last year the Del Norte JV team had a remarkable turnaround under head coach Nat Parrott as Del Norte finished the season 7-3.

“We had a good season and we are getting better and moving forward as a program,” said Rook, who just completed his second year as head coach.

At the ceremony, team awards as well as Big 5 Conference honors were announced.

Rook emphasized that, to him, the key awards handed out were the team awards that honored both what the players have accomplished both on and off the field.

The Warrior Pride Award goes to a player  “who is unheralded,” Rook said. “The young man who works hard, shows up every day, ready to practice.”

On the varsity side, Derek Allen received the honor. Josiah Johnson and Eric Turner earned the award for the JV team.

The Citizenship Award goes to a player who is a model citizen that helps out in the community and is a good student, Rook said. The varsity award went to Matthew Lesh while Jordan Fillipa received the JV honor.

The Coach’s Award goes to a player  who is “a worker, a competitor, a person with character,” Rook said. “The type of young man any coach wants to build a team around, or lead the team into battle.”

The varsity award went to Nic Bell and the JV award was received by Dylan Pease.

Big 5 first team White Star honors went to senior running backs Collin Taylor and sophomore Jordan Carpenter, who both played on defense. Two staples on the offensive line and defense were Lane Reichlin and Allen, who also earned first team honors.

Taylor rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 20 total touchdowns despite battling  a hamstring injury for the second half of the season and missing a few games and being limited for other games. Carpenter was solid and made sure the running game kept going smoothly while Taylor dealt with his injury.

Reichlin and Allen as well as the entire offensive line were the key reason for their success running the ball this year, Rook said and commended both of them for doing a great job opening up holes for the running game.

Honorable mention honors for the Warriors went to Bell, Aaron Fitch, Austin Moore, Ignacio (Nacho) Moreno and Tyler Nelson.

MVP honors went to two players from the Big 5 champs, the Fortuna Huskies. Quarterback Brady Shaha was named offensive MVP and linebacker Zach Cahill, who was also an outstanding running back, defensive MVP honors.

When asked for a high point of the season, Rook said that for him it was when both the varsity and JV teams were 5-0.

“It took a lot of hard work to get to that point,” he said. “It was a good feeling to know that things were working.”

A low point, Rook said, was when his players dealt with injuries.

A major injury occurred when senior starting defensive back Joseph Verdejo was lost for the year around the midway point of the season with a blown knee.

“It was hard going to the hospital to see this young man and finding out he won’t play football for our team again,” Rook said. “He was a great young man who put so much effort and time and was a team leader.”

The seniors were also honored Wednesday.  Rook said he always enjoys the chance to thank them for all their accomplishments and hard work and give them a fond send- off.

Reach Bill Choy at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it