Warriors and Huskies FB game on Fri.

Homecoming night for the Warriors on Friday presents an intriguing matchup as two of the three undefeated teams in the Big 5 Conference meet up.

Del Norte High has looked strong, with a nearly unstoppable running game and tough defense, to go 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big 5.

While it didn’t play its sharpest game of the season, Del Norte still came away with a 33-12 victory against Arcata on the road last Friday.

The Warriors’ opponent this week is the Fortuna Huskies, who come in with an excellent ground game led by an elite running quarterback.

“It’s going to be a great game,” Del Norte head coach Ray Rook said. “We know that we need to execute our game plan, which is the case every week. Homecoming is great for the kids and the community, but we need to focus and play the game ... It’s business as usual for us.”

Last Friday, Fortuna dominated McKinleyville 50-9 at home to improve to 4-1 for the year and 2-0 in the Big 5.

The Huskies’ lone loss came at home 19-7 against Ferndale on Sept. 16.  Del Norte defeated Ferndale on the road 20-16 on Sept. 10.

Another Big 5 rival, Eureka, has yet to play a conference game this season.

The junior varsity game begins at 5 p.m. with varsity kicking off at 7:30 p.m. at Mike Whalen Field.

In the McKinleyville game, Fortuna ran the ball 65 times for 336 yards against the Panthers, with five players  scoring. Brady Shaha, the quarterback, ran for three scores.

 “I’m very proud of how they took care of business,” Fortuna head coach Mike Benbow said in a Saturday article in the Eureka Times-Standard. “Hopefully we can build on it for next week.”

Rook believes that the Huskies will try to control the clock and “keep the ball away from us.”

That may be smart considering  the way the Warriors have scored this season, including two contests where they ended up with more than 50 points.

Rook said that on offense, Del Norte will do what it has done in all the previous games and pound the ball with a big and athletic offensive line and elite running game led by senior Collin Taylor, who has opened a lot of eyes with his superb play. Through five games he has already accounted for 17 touchdowns and more than 900 yards of rushing.

On defense, Rook said the Warriors must contain Shaha, an elusive runner who can earn large chunks of yardage. Fortuna also has an excellent running back in Zach Cahill, who had 78 yards and two scores against McKinleyville last week.

The Warriors have to quickly fill the gaps and not let the Huskies get too comfortable running the ball, Rook said.

Del Norte’s junior varsity team is also 5-0. Rook believes that this shows that the football program as a whole is humming along nicely.

“It says a lot about the hard work the kids and the coaches have put into this program,” he said.