The Del Norte Warriors maintained their impressive start to the season, albeit against a less than stellar opponent, running out to a 62-0 win at home to Yreka on Friday night.

In other games, the Eureka Loggers fell 17-14 to Windsor in another exciting encounter at Albee Stadium, while St. Bernard’s ran out to a comfortable 39-14 win at Hoopa.

McKinleyville dropped to 0-2 with a 20-0 loss at Willits, while Fortuna barely fell to Miramonte, 45-39, in another thriller in the East Bay.

For more on the Eureka game, see Inconsistency on offense proves costly for Eureka, while for more on the SB and Hoopa game, see Crusaders overcome mistakes to win at Hoopa.

Yreka 0, Del Norte 62

This was a very different matchup than last week’s one-point win at Moreau Catholic, as the Del Norte defense held visiting Yreka to just six yards in the first half, ending the game as a contest early and decisively.

The Warriors, who are now 2-0, led 55-0 before halftime against a Yreka team that was playing its first game of the year and didn’t help itself with turnovers.

“It was a good overall team effort,” Del Norte head coach Nick White said. “The effort and overall intensity the kids played with was good. We never quit. Never let down. The kids played hard.”

Quarterback OJ Calleja had a big game, completing 7 of 8 passes for 144 yards and a pair of TDs, all in the first half, as White went deep to his bench after the interval. 

Levi Cox Cooley rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, his second straight 100-yard game to start the season.

Several Warriors combined for 244 yards rushing.

Defensively, the Warriors came away with five takeaways.

Del Norte hosts La Salle next week.

Fortuna 39, Miramonte 45

The Huskies lost a heartbreaker in Orinda on Friday night, with the home team scoring the winning touchdown in the final seconds.

With the score tied at 39-39, Miramonte senior quarterback Matt Meredith broke a couple of tackles to find an open receiver with a laser pass for a 57-yard touchdown that would prove to be the winner.

The TD pass capped a huge night for Meredith, who accounted for all six of his team’s TDs, passing for four and running for two.

“Their quarterback was really good,” Fortuna head coach said of the 6-foot-5 Meredith.

The Huskies’ performance was much improved from their opening loss against Cardinal Newman a week ago.

“We played a little better than last week, but it does hurt when you lose on the last play of the game,” Benbow said. “But the kids played hard all the way to the end.”

Kobe Letter had a productive day in the loss, rushing for 101 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Levi Nyberg added 102 yards on the ground.

Daeden Taylor also had a big night for the Huskies, accounting for four touchdowns, passing for two, rushing for one and returning a kickoff all the way to the end zone for the other.

Branson Gans and Kevin Gage each had a TD reception.

“We battled and we scored some points, and we played some good defense at times,” Benbow said. “And we played some poor defense at times.”

Senior Draven Boyd also had a big performance on special teams.

The Huskies, who rushed for 292 yards in the loss, will travel for a third straight week next weekend, when they play at Kelseyville in Lake County.

McKinleyville 0, Willits 20

Wolverines senior Jacob Arms scored three touchdowns as the Panthers were shut out at Willits on Friday night.

Arms returned the opening kickoff to put the visitors in an early hole, but Mack stuck around after that, remaining within a touchdown until the third quarter.

The Panthers moved the ball on offense, but came away with zero points from three trips inside the red zone.

“We just couldn’t capitalize,” McKinleyville head coach Keoki Burbank said.

Mistakes on special teams and missed tackles on defense didn’t help matters for the Panthers, who dropped to 0-2.

There were some bright spots, including the play of lineman Thomas Locatelli who made several tackles for loss.

Dominic Kofi also had a big night on the defensive line, while receiver Che Jimenez continued his impressive start to the new season with some impressive catches.

Caleb Martinez also had some nice gains at running back.

The Panthers will play Fort Bragg at the Redwood Bowl next weekend.

Another bright spot for Mack was the play of the JV team, which improved to 2-0 with a 24-14 win, rallying form an early two-touchdown deficit with 24 unanswered points.