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The Del Norte Warriors got back to winning ways and kept their hopes of a sixth straight Big 4 championship alive with a much-needed win on Homecoming night.

One week after a disappointing performance at Fortuna in their conference opener, the Warriors welcomed the Eureka Loggers to Mike Whalen Field and comfortably took care of business, 33-6.

With the victory, Del Norte improved to 1-1 in conference and 4-2 overall, while the Loggers fell to 0-2 and 1-5 with a fifth straight loss.

Also in action on Friday night, the South Fork Cubs got the better of Potter Valley in eight-person football on their Homecoming night, winning 24-20.

With the win, which was their third straight, the Cubs improved to 2-0 in the NCL III and 4-1 on the season.

In the Little 4, the Arcata Tigers edged Hoopa 13-12 on their Homecoming night and improved to 2-0 in conference and 3-3 on the season.

The Warriors, who dropped to 0-2 and 1-5, had a chance to pull out the victory at the end but came up just short deep in Arcata territory.

Up in Crescent City, the Warriors finally got to play a home game after five straight road trips to start the season and they gave their fans plenty to cheer about.

“We had a good week of practice. They were pretty upset about losing to Fortuna,” Del Norte head coach Darren LaFazio said of his players. “I thought we played solid. We can still fix some things, but we played pretty good.”

After each team held the other to quick three-and-outs on their opening two possessions of the night, the Warriors would take advantage of some great field position on their third drive and opened the scoring on a three-yard TD run by quarterback Kanyon Starkey late in the first quarter.

They would add to their tally barely a minute later, when Tobias Meyers broke free on a 50-yard TD run, a score that was set up on a fumble recovery by sophomore Bryce Stover.

The home team led 14-0 going into the second quarter and would stretch the advantage to 21 before halftime thanks to a 39-yard TD run by Will McCovey and Adrian Alvarado’s third successful PAT.

The Warriors defense dominated a beat-up Eureka team for much of the night and never allowed sophomore quarterback Bryson Burns — who was making his first start — and his offense settle into much of a groove.

The home team had two takeaways on the night and also recovered an onside kick to start the second half.

“We just came out hungry,” LaFazio said. “We finally got to play a home game, and it was just a different team from last week, it felt like to me.”

Both teams held the other scoreless in the third quarter, but the Warriors would end any hopes of a dramatic comeback by the visitors with two more touchdowns in the fourth.

Starkey was involved in both scores.

He found the end zone a second time on a three-yard TD run with 8:51 remaining, and followed that with a 10-yard TD pass to Meyers.

At that stage the Warriors led 33-0.

They appeared to be headed towards their first shutout of the season, but the Loggers to their credit would not quit and scored their only touchdown of the night with a little over a minute remaining when Burns connected with Michael O’Shaughnessy on a 13-yard TD pass.

Meyers had a big night in the win, which was Del Norte’s ninth straight over the Loggers, rushing for 137 yards and scoring two TDs, one on the ground and one through the air.

McCovey also had a good night rushing and added 95 yards on the ground before leaving the game with an injury.

The Del Norte coach doesn’t believe it is a serious injury.

“I think he’s going to be alright,” he said.

LaFazio also praised the play of his offensive line, which opened up some nice holes for the running backs, as well as the Del Norte sophomores, Stover at cornerback and Dustin Starcher at outside linebacker.

“It was a good team win,” the coach added.

The Loggers fared better in the JV game and won 22-0 to take over sole possession of top spot in the Big 4 standings with a 2-0 record, at least for one night.

The Loggers go to 4-1-1 overall, while the young Warriors dropped to 0-2 in conference and 3-3 on the season.