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The Del Norte Warriors feature a very new-look roster in boys basketball this year as they get set for a challenging trip to the Yreka tournament this weekend.

The Del Norte boys tipped off the new season with a 69-62 loss at Hoopa on Friday night, but quickly responded with a better performance at home to South Fork on Saturday, winning 77-50.

And head coach Cris Rice was happy with the second performance.

“Our team played a lot better against South Fork,” he said. “Our intensity was up. We didn’t take South Fork for granted.”

This year’s team features just two returning players who saw any real time a year ago — senior Kanyon Starkey and junior Sawyer Fry — as well as several players who have moved up from a JV team that was 8-0 in league play.

The talent is there, but the question for the Warriors is how quickly can they adapt and come together?

Junior Damian Escalera led the team in scoring at Hoopa with 23 points, while Fry added 16.

Five different Del Norte players finished in double digits in scoring in Saturday’s game, including Marcus Parras, who scored a team-high 17 points.

Sophomore Ty Blue added 13 points and six rebounds in that game, while junior Justin Cushmann chipped in 11 points

Blue, in particular, looks like he has a bright future at the varsity level.

“That kid is going to be something else,” Rice said. “He needs to get tougher, but he’s big, coordinated and knows where to be.”

Fry, who was the team’s sixth man last year, also looks poised for a big season and finished with six rebounds, six assists and five steals against South Fork.

“We’re looking for big things from Sawyer Fry,” Rice added. 

Starkey, meanwhile, has made a seamless transition from a big season on the football field and had a big impact in Saturday’s win, finishing with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Escalera also had 10 points.

Escalera, Cushmann, Blue and Parras all played predominantly on the JV team last year, and all are expected to feature heavily on the varsity team this winter after Del Norte graduated six seniors from last year’s team.

“They’re going to be a big part of varsity, along with Fry and Starkey,” said Rice, who has eight players right now who are expected to see substantial playing time. “We like the eight that we’re going to go with quite a bit.”

The head coach also likes the fact that most of this year’s roster are basketball players first.

“I like that I have a lot of all-in, year-round basketball players,” the coach added. “I have more than I have had in the past. They’re hoopers.”

The coach is also hoping to have a more balanced lineup and not have to rely so heavily on the perimeter shooting.

“We’re just young and we’ve got to learn,” he said. “But I feel like this team will get better each week.

“We have a lot of potential, and we’ll see how that ends up being. We have a ton of upside.”

The Warriors will continue their preparation for conference play at the Yreka tournament this weekend, opening against Red Bluff on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

“We’re looking forward to that challenge, and hopefully we can get a win and play Yreka in round two,” Rice said.

The Warriors will also play at the Arcata tournament next week for the first time in a long time.

Rice also paid tribute to Hoopa and new head coach Inker McCovey, who has returned to the sideline this year for the first time in two decades.

“Their coach is very experienced and successful, and he’s got those kids playing as up-tempo and in-your-face as anybody you’re going to see,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to him and how hard he has those kids playing.”