A big weekend for Del Norte High sports served up no shortage of excitement.
One team came close to making school history, another did, and two others enjoyed their biggest wins of the season.
On Friday night, the Del Norte football team traveled to Fortuna on the final night of the regular season and came away with a win the Warriors realistically had to have to keep their season going.
Del Norte held on late for a 21-20 victory to claim a share of this year’s Pacific League championship, the program’s sixth in the last seven full seasons.
(There was no league title awarded during the COVID-shortened campaign of 2020.)
Del Norte will find out on Sunday its North Coast Section bracket and seed, with the playoffs set to begin next weekend.
The biggest game of the weekend for the school took place at Del Norte High as the varsity girls volleyball team hosted the NCS Division-5 championship game.
Unfortunately for the Warriors they came up just short in an exciting five-sets match.
The No. 1 seeds in the division fell to No. 3 International, 3-2, coming up just short in their bid for a first-ever section championship in the sport.
The loss was the first for the Del Norte girls in the playoffs after they had taken care of business in their first three matchups, giving up just one set in that impressive run.
The loss, however, does not end the season for the team, which will now move on to the state playoffs, which get under way this coming week.
The team will find out its seed, bracket and opening-round opponent on Sunday.
A busy weekend for the school’s sports teams didn’t end there.
On Saturday afternoon, the Del Norte girls soccer team made some program history by qualifying for a first-ever NCS championship game.
The Warriors, who are seeded No. 1 in the Division-2 bracket, welcomed Lower Lake to Crescent City for a Saturday afternoon semifinal showdown and won the game 1-0.
The win sets up an all-local championship game, which will also be played in Crescent City, on Wednesday afternoon.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
The Warriors’ opponents on Wednesday are Redwood League rivals Ferndale, a team they tied twice in league play this year.
The Wildcats are the defending NCS Division-1 champions and will be playing for a third NCS crown in four years.
Rounding out a busy weekend for the Del Norte teams, on Saturday night the boys soccer team played its NCS quarterfinal at Cristo Rey De La Salle in Oakland and knocked off the higher seeds.
The No. 7 Warriors beat the No. 2 seeds 3-1 and moved within one win of reaching this year’s Division-2 championship game.
And they won’t have to travel very far for their semifinal.
On Wednesday night they will head to Albee Stadium in Eureka to play the league rival Loggers, who also knocked off a higher seed in their quarterfinal, winning 2-0 at No. 3 Credo.
Wednesday’s game is set for 7 p.m.
