Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
By Ray Hamill — Few teams in H-DNL football have been as consistent as Del Norte in recent years, but the Warriors will have their hands full in their season-opener on Friday night.
Del Norte travels to Fortuna to play the Huskies, the same team that ended the Warriors’ 15-game conference winning streak when they last played in the regular-season finale in 2023.
And Del Norte head coach Darren LaFazio knows it will be a battle, as two of the Big 4 frontrunners look to get their campaign off to a winning start.
“I expect Fortuna to be really good,” LaFazio said. “They’re going to be physical, they’re well coached and I expect it to be a dog fight. This is going to be a good challenge.”
Friday’s season opener is a non-conference showdown and the first of two meetings between the two programs this season, with a more crucial conference showdown in Crescent City later in the season.
However, that won’t take from what will be the most anticipated game of the opening weekend here on the North Coast.
In LaFazio’s words, it will indeed be a good early-season challenge for both teams and a game that will tell us plenty about each.
There’s still a long way to go before conference play begins in late October, but heading into the new campaign most fans believe this year’s Big 4 will be very competitive, with perhaps all four teams ready to challenge for a conference championship that ended in a three-way tie a year ago.
“They’re all good,” the second-year Del Norte head coach said of his Big 4 opponents. “I think it’s going to be a toss up for sure.”
LaFazio expects his team to be right in the mix for what would be a fifth straight conference title, having won the Big 4 outright in 2019, 2021 and 2022. (There was no conference held in 2020 because of COVID.)
The Warriors have 10 returning players on this year’s roster, including a core group of veteran team leaders who have been setting the tone during the offseason.
That group includes influential seniors Ben Borges and Colton Schaad, each of whom was named to the Big 4 all-league team last year.
Borges will start at running back and outside linebacker, while Schaad will play middle linebacker and will anchor the offensive line at guard.
Big things are also expected out of junior Will McCovey, who returns for his a third year at the varsity level and will start at full back and linebacker, while the dangerous Curtis Bartley will see time at defensive end and fullback and also is expected to play a pivotal role for the team this fall.
Another key returning player is senior Aidan Rice, who likely will start at quarterback as well as defensive back.
Junior Kanyon Starkey could also see time at quarterback after moving up from the JVs, where he played a key role in their impressive season a year ago, one that saw them barely lose out to Fortuna for the Big 4 championship.
LaFazio and his staff got a first look at their players in a game situation during Saturday’s H-DNL scrimmage at St. Bernard’s.
And the head coach liked a lot of what he saw.
“I was looking to see if we were physical, and we were pretty physical,” he said. “That’s all you can look for (from a scrimmage), because nobody shows you anything.
“We had some good moments, and we had some terrible moments. That’s the way it is.”
With the team leaders setting the tone, the Del Norte players enjoyed a good offseason, which will help them, hit the ground running ahead of such a challenging season-opener.
“They’re all good kids and they’ve really worked hard in the weight room,” the head coach said of his players. “90 percent of them are gym rats.”
That’s something that has worked well for the program in recent years, and it’s not the only thing.
The Warriors are known for their physical style of play and fans can expect more of the same this fall from a team that is “pretty strong up front,” according to the coach.
“We run first, always,” LaFazio said. “That’s Del Norte football.”
Friday’s game is set for 7:30 p.m., with the schools’ JV teams kicking off their seasons at 5 p.m.
