File photos

Once they found their second wind, there was no stopping the Warriors on Friday night.

Del Norte made the trip to Ashland and ran out to a dominating 42-13 win over the Grizzlies in hot conditions.

With temperatures in the 90s at kickoff, the game was close for much of the night, with just seven points separating the two teams late in the third quarter.

But the Warriors finished strong, scoring 28 unanswered points on the way to the win.

“In the second half, we just pounded them down,” Del Norte head coach Darren LaFazio said. “We found our second wind.”

With the victory, the Warriors improved to 2-0 on the young season, and they did it with a more disciplined performance than in their season-opening win over Hoopa.

“Overall, I thought we played way better than we did last week,” LaFazio said. “I’m proud of our kids.”

As we’ve come to expect from this program, the Warriors secured the win with another big performance in the trenches, which paved the way for their relentless running game, and by making big plays on defense.

They had four takeaways on the night, including a fumble returned for a touchdown, and they also ran for five TDs.

Tobias Meyers got the party started with a five-yard touchdown run on the team’s opening drive of the night.

However, neither team would score again until the second half.

“We came out and we started the game really good,” LaFazio said. “And then we kind of stalled. But then we shut them down on D.”

Meyers scored the second of his three touchdowns four minutes into the second half, finding the end zone on a short run.

But the home team would respond with their first score of the night a few minutes later to pull within one TD again.

However, the Warriors were just getting started at that stage and quickly stretched their advantage back out to 14 on a nine-yard Kanyon Starkey TD run.

The visitors would add three more touchdowns in the fourth, the first of them on a 12-yard William McCovey run.

Max Borges followed that with a 16-yard TD run, before Meyers added his third score of the night on a scoop and score from 35 yards out.

“Up front, both ways, we did a really good job,” LaFazio added.

The Grizzlies would add a second TD late, but the game was well decided by then.

Sophomore kicker Adrian Alvarado rounded out a big night for Del Norte by making all six of his PATs.

In addition to their TDs, both Starkey (interception) and McCovey (fumble recovery) each also came up with a takeaway on defense.

With the loss, Ashland dropped to 0-1.

Next up, the Warriors will travel to play Arcata (0-1) at McKinleyville High next weekend.