Warriors earn comeback win

Down 6-0 at the half, Del Norte wins game 20-12

Del Norte High Warrior senior Austin Moore runs off the field during the final regular season home game of the year against Arcata in cool weather conditions Friday night. Del Norte won the contest 20-12 after being down 6-0 at the half. For more photos, go to triplicate.com/photos Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The win was much needed as it snaps a three-game losing streak after the Warriors started the season 5-0 and 2-0 in the Big 5 Conference.

“They fought for something they wanted,” head coach Ray Rook said. A win. “We found ways to make plays when we had to.”

Rook admitted that this was a must-win situation and it would not have been good for the team to have lost four straight games. The victory gives a big boost to team morale, which was down after losing three straight games, including being shut out 35-0 at Fortuna last week, he said.

“Winning cures a lot of things,” Rook said.

Injured last week in a loss to Fortuna, senior quarterback Julian Markussen did not play in the first half. He came in to start the second half and threw for two scores. Sophomore Aaron Fitch had a wonderful game and caught two touchdowns.

Senior running back Collin Taylor, who has a strained hamstring, had been greatly limited the past two weeks and did not play in the first half. Before he was hurt Taylor had rushed for more than 1,000 yards. He played in the second half and ran the ball in for a score.

Rook said that it was nice to have these two key players back and performing well in front of the home fans on senior night.

 Before the start of the game the Warrior seniors were honored with their proud family members by their side. The cheer squad was also honored.

Del Norte High sophomore signal caller Dylan Pease tries to avoid an Arcata defender during the first half of the game on Friday. Del Norte won the contest 20-12 to improve to 6-3 for the season. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

In their first meeting on Sept. 30 Del Norte won 33-12 against Arcata.

Sophomore Dylan Pease was brought up from the junior varsity team and started the game at quarterback.

In the first half it was a defensive battle as neither team could get things going.

There were some nice plays by Del Norte, such as a 35-yard run by sophomore Jordan Carpenter and a 26-yard rumble by senior Austin Moore.

While Del Norte got into Tiger territory a few times, nothing came of it.

Arcata was able to use its strong running game to rumble deep into Warrior territory. But each time they were stopped by Del Norte, who bent but did not break.

With the first half almost over it looked like it would be 0-0.

But Arcata had other plans.

With under a minute left in the half the Tigers had a third down and six situation on Del Norte’s 24-yard-line. The Tigers signal caller launched the ball, found his target and scored with 28 seconds left. The kick was missed as the half ended 6-0, Tigers.

Del Norte last lost to the Tigers in 2005 and with the way they played in the second half it was obvious they did not want this to be the year they gave Arcata a victory.

At the start of the second half things started off quite well when Del Norte recovered the ball on a fumble.

On the next offensive possession Markussen and Taylor came in. Taylor rumbled for a 26-yard gain.

Del Norte finally got things going when Markussen let it rip and found Fitch for the score on a 44-yard play with 8:08 left. The kick was good as Del Norte took the 7-6 advantage.

The Warriors tried an onside kick but it did not work, giving the Tigers great field position.

Arcata continued to go down the field and had a 10-yard touchdown run with 4:29 left in the third quarter to take a 12-7 lead. The Tigers went for two points but fumbled the ball.

Late in the quarter Markussen found Carpenter, who rumbled down the sidelines for 47 yards all the way to the Tiger 1-yard line.

From the 2-yard line on second down Taylor smacked the ball in for the touchdown as he scored for the 20th time this year, his 17th rushing touchdown. The extra point was good with under two minutes left to take the 14-12 advantage.

In the fourth quarter a short punt by Arcata gave Del Norte good field position.

Later, Markussen made a nice run of 23 yards all the way to the Tiger 28-yard line.

On the next play Markussen unloaded a pass and found Fitch for a 28-yard touchdown. The point after was blocked as Del Norte held a 20-12 advantage with around nine minutes left in the game.

While Del Norte later fumbled, the defense played lights out, not giving the Tigers much to work with as the Warriors held on for the needed win.

 Del Norte had 34 rushes for 237 yards. Carpenter had a good game as he finished with 101 yards rushing and Taylor notched 61 yards on the ground. Arcata rushed 39 times for 184 yards and threw for 55 yards.

Del Norte improved to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the Big 5. Arcata fell to 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the Big 5.

Things went quite well in the junior varsity contest as the Warriors dominated the proceedings 34-0.

Head coach Nat Parrott was quite pleased that his junior varsity squad limited the Tigers to only 100 yards of offense.

“We came out and were on fire,” he said.

Del Norte improved to 7-2 for the year and broke a two-game losing streak.

Matt Coopman threw for 137 yards and three touchdowns. Jackson Evans had 44 yards rushing and two scores, and Chad Bell had two reception touchdowns.

Del Norte ends the regular season next Friday at McKinleyville. The junior varsity game begins at 5 p.m. and varsity is set for 7:30 p.m.

In their last meeting on Sept. 23 in Crescent City, Del Norte won in decisive fashion 42-0.