Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Del Norte Warriors will host Fortuna on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — Fresh off their first loss of the season, the Del Norte Warriors have been back at work this week eager to move on and learn from the setback.

And it appears to be something the players have taken to heart.

“Practice has been going really well,” head coach Nick White said when asked how he felt his players had reacted. “I was hoping it would be a good thing, and it has been so far.”

According to the coach, the players’ focus and concentration has been great as they get set for Friday’s non-league showdown with Fortuna under the lights in Crescent City.

And it might need to be against a Huskies team White and his players won’t be taking lightly, despite their 1-3 record.

“The first thing is they have excellent coaching and they will be well prepared,” White said of Fortuna. “And they’ve had a bye week (last weekend) which is concerning.

“They do a great job offensively and defensively with their schemes.”

To counter that, the Warriors will need to be well prepared themselves, something they have been for all of their games so far.

After opening their campaign with a very impressive road win at Moreau Catholic, the Warriors then steamrolled three straight opponents before falling 21-14 at Mazama.

All in all, it puts Del Norte in a good position heading into the second half of the season and the upcoming Big 4.

“I think we are definitely on the track that we set for the kids, in that we’re getting better every week,” White said. “Even though we lost, I think we improved.”

The Warriors, who had a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers in the game, had a late opportunity to score but were unable to convert.

“I thought we played pretty well, it was just two super physical teams,” the Del Norte head coach said. “That was definitely the most physical team we played all year, and it was a good test for us.”

The Warriors have certainly been physical on the defensive side of the ball, where they lead the North Coast Section in tackles for a loss with 44.

They also now have 100 pancake blocks, according to their coach, a remarkable rate of 20 a game.

For Friday’s game, the Warriors will be without injured fullback Kobe Mitchell.

“The next kid will step up,” White said of an offense that has won with a deep stable of running backs. “We have kids that want to play, that want the carries.”

Friday night’s game is set 7:30 p.m.