Warriors fall to Huskies on road

DN drops 3rd straight game 35-0

After starting the year a sterling 5-0, the past three games have gone south for the Del Norte Warriors football team.

Friday night, Del Norte was crushed on the road by the Fortuna Huskies 35-0 to drop its third straight game.

Del Norte could not get anything going on offense and were unable to contain the Husky offensive attack as the Warriors were down 21-0 at the half.

“When you get down early it’s hard to come back on good teams,” Del Norte head coach Ray Rook said.

Del Norte fell to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big 5 Conferencewhile Fortuna improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big 5.

The first time these two teams met on Oct. 7, Fortuna handed the Warriors a 55-28 loss on homecoming night.

In the first quarter, things started off poorly for Del Norte. On the first offensive play on a slant pass, the Huskies sledded down the field for a 60-yard gain to the Del Norte 1-yard line. On the next play the Huskies cashed it in for the score only 30 seconds into the contest.

Later in the quarter, Fortuna recovered the ball on a punt return to Del Norte on the Warriors’ 16-yard line. With 6:48 left the Huskies scored as they jumped to a quick 14-0 advantage after the point after attempt was made.

Later in the quarter, Del Norte signal caller Julian Markussen found wide receiver Kody Osborne for a 26-yard gain with 26 seconds left deep into Husky terrority around the 20-yard line. But Del Norte could not capitalize and stalled around the 27-yard line. They went for it on fourth down and threw the ball as Del Norte was picked off around the 5-yard line.

Fortuna moved down the field when quarterback Brady Shaha ran for a 35-yard gain. A positive occurred when Del Norte stopped the Huskies, forcing a 4th and nine from around the 19-yard line of Del Norte. The Huskies went for it but were denied by a swarming Warrior defense that caused a 4-yard loss.

But Del Norte could not capitalize on its next possession and  got off a 6-yard punt to give the Huskies excellent field possession on the 32-yard line of the Warriors.

Fortuna scored on a 2-yard run with 1:20 left in the quarter. With the kick good the Huskies had a 21-0 lead at the half.

In the second half, the Huskies marched down the field and scored on a 22-yard run with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter.

The points kept on rolling for Fortuna on a long drive. It ended when the Huskies scored with a little more than a minute remaining in the third as the Warriors were at a 35-0 disadvantage after the extra point was made.

In the fourth quarter, Del Norte finally had a good chance to score. With around a minute left Del Norte was looking at third down from the Fortuna 5-yard line. The Warriors were unable to score as they were shut out for the first time this season.

When asked if this was a hard loss for him and the team, Rook replied, “Of course. We want to win every game. But we battled the whole game. Now we’ve got to get back to work next week.”

 Del Norte could only muster   70 yards on the ground and 50 from the air. Fortuna finished with a total of 292 yards on offense.

In the second quarter, Markussen was hurt and backup Aaron Fitch took over for him. Markussen returned in the third quarter.

Running back Collin Taylor, who  has already rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season was hurt last week and was a game time decision this week. While he played some he was not at full speed.

In the junior varsity contest, Del Norte lost to Fortuna 19-14 to drop to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big 5. Quarterback Dylan Pease had 135 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Next week, Del Norte will face Arcata on senior night in the final regular season home game of the year at Mike Whalen Field.

Del Norte ends the regular season the following week at McKinleyville.