Warrior Classic set to begin

Doug Ovick of the Del Norte High varsity team tries to dribble past a player from Phoenix, Ore., during a game at a tournament in Brookings on Friday. Wescom News Service/Jef Hatch

Today is the first day of the annual Del Norte Warrior Classic. Both the Warriors junior varsity and freshman teams are also taking part.

For the varsity squad things have been  a work in progress for the  young, inexperienced squad, who come in with a 2-3 record.

With very little varsity experience on the team and only three returners back from last year, it has been a true learning experience this season, head coach Blaine Lopez said.

The Warriors must improve on both sides of the ball and improve each time out as they prepare to compete in an especially tough Big 5 Conference. Big 5 play begins next month.

Last weekend, Del Norte went up to Brookings for a tournament and played two games. Both Brookings and Del Norte faced common opponents.

Del Norte lost to Phoenix, Ore, 84-49, while Brookings fell to Phoenix 71-36. Del Norte defeated Bandon 47-44, while Brookings downed Bandon 58-20.

Brookings is a fundamentally sound, well-coached team, Lopez said. If Del Norte wants to be competitive with the Bruins they must be more consistant in their play,  he said.

“They play a man-to-man defense and they are going to press us and get at us,” Lopez said. “For us, we’ve got to keep turnovers down and play hard for 32 minutes.”

Lopez believes that if his squad can start to play tougher, more tenacious defense more consistently it will certainly help them stay in more games this year.

Lopez, who is in his first year back as head coach after previously being in charge for five seasons until 2008 said that with such a young group of players he is looking for steady improvement and hopes the squad can come together as a team.

“We’re trying to improve every single day,” he said, “so when we begin league we can go out and be competitive because league is going to be tough.”

To Lopez, every single Big 5 team will be a challenge. And that of course includes Arcata, which still has a fair share of key veterans back and co-shared the Big 5 title with Del Norte last year.

Below is a list of the all tournament games. All the contests will be held at Thunen Gym at the high school.

Thursday

Freshman: Del Norte versus Brookings, 2:30 p.m.

JV: Del Norte vs Brookings, 4 p.m.

JV: McKinleyville versus Hoopa, 5:30 p.m.

Varsity: Del Norte versus Brookings, 7 p.m

Friday

JV: Del Norte versus McKinleyville, 4 p.m.

JV: Hoopa versus Brookings, 5:30 p.m.

Varsity: Hoopa versus Brookings, 7 p.m.

Saturday

JV: McKinleyville versus Brookings, 1 p.m.

JV: Del Norte versus Hoopa, 2:30 p.m.

Varsity: Del Norte versus Hoopa, 4 p.m.