Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Warriors in action last season.

By Ray Hamill —The hard work is beginning to pay off for the Hoopa Warriors.

As they get set for their football season opener at Weed on Friday night, head coach Floyd “Cowboy” Billings and his players appear well positioned for a successful season after a productive summer.

The roster is as big as it has been in some time and the Warriors will field both varsity and JV teams this fall, but more importantly, according to the coach, the players are buying in and their attitude is second to none.

“All my expectations are being met,” Billings said. “The players, they dedicated themselves in the weight room this summer, which has made them bigger and stronger. I’ve got a huge line and they’ve met every expectation. And the more days they go out there and practice, they’re going to get better.”

The Warriors have done this despite having to battle COVID protocols and air quality conditions, and the team only began practice last week, one week later than the rest of the H-DNL.

They were also unable to scrimmage this past weekend — while most teams in the H-DNL did — but the Hoopa players have put in a couple of double-days in order to catch up and Billings believes they will be ready to go by Friday night.

“It’ll work,” said the long-time local coach who just took over the Warriors program last year. “We’re ready physically. We’ve been in the weight room all summer.”

Billings had close to 50 players try out, with the varsity team expected to feature between 25 and 30 players, all of whom will be juniors and seniors only.

“We’ve got a good freshmen class coming in, so we have the numbers,” said Billings, who expects even more players to show up when school begins on Wednesday. “If you want a place on this team, you’ve got to earn it.”

Among the key returning players is junior quarterback Lane Campbell, who is expected to play a pivotal role.

“He’s our general on offense,” the head coach said. “His IQ of the game and his ability to read a defense is pretty incredible. “

Senior Talon Borden is also back and will move from receiver to running back, taking over from the graduated all-league standout Larry Tracy, while also serving as the back-up quarterback.

“He’s looking good,” Billings said of Borden. “His leadership is coming on. We feel what he’s doing is pretty awesome.”

Also back is cornerback/linebacker Darvin Davis, who led the team in tackles last season and is expected to play an even bigger role this fall, as is linebacker Jason Marshall.

Big things are also expected out of Bronc Colegrove and Gerard Marshall, who will each anchor both lines.

But it’s not just the team’s size that could cause opponents problems.

“I think we have the speed to match some of the passing teams we’ll face this year,” the head coach said. “I think we have the ability to do that.”

Most of all, it’s been the players’ collective attitude that has the second-year head coach most excited.

“I’m totally stoked for this year, to see what we’ve got,” he said. “There are no bad attitudes on this team, and that makes it easier to coach.”

After taking their lumps as sophomores and juniors in the spring, this year’s roster appears ready to take some positive steps and perhaps even compete for a North Coast Section title.

“I believe so,” Billings said. “I believe it 100 percent. If we can play our game, we’re going to be hard to match up with. if we play our ‘A’ game it’s going to be hard to stop us. We’ve got the right work ethic, the right attitude. Everything’s coming together.”