The Del Norte Warriors are finding their groove at a very good time.
Three weeks ago they were 3-5 and their playoff hopes were on life support.
Three weekends later, they find themselves in a North Coast Section semifinal and look they will be a handful for anyone in the Division-6 bracket.
After closing out the regular season with back-to-back wins over McKinleyville and Fortuna to make the postseason, on Friday night they kicked off the playoffs with a dominating 37-0 over San Rafael in Crescent City in their opening-round game.
And they won with some dominating defense and a huge night from senior Max Borges, who scored four of his team’s five TDs.
“He was a beast tonight,” Del Norte head coach Nick White said of the senior running back. “He was running hard and running over people.”
The Del Norte defense gave up just four yards rushing on 12 carries in the opening half as the home team opened up a commanding 23-0 lead at halftime.
And they continued to set the tone on that side of the ball after the break on the way to posting a first shutout of the season.
“I was really happy with all three phases of the game,” White added. “I thought our defense played lights out all night. They flew around and tackled well.
“We had a really good week of practice as far as the game plan went and I thought our kids executed.”
There was little to fault about the overall team performance, as the Warriors improved to 6-5 and moved above .500 for the first time all year.
Borges scored the first two touchdowns of the game, both in the first quarter.
He broke the deadlock on a 12-yard TD catch form quarterback Trent Cronk, who also enjoyed a very good night, and would add a second TD on a 25-yard run.
A safety on a blocked punt would give the home team a 16-0 advantage before the end of the opening quarter.
Outstanding freshman receiver Elijah Brunson would add a third TD for Del Norte just before halftime, also on a pass from Cronk, and Borges would add two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring and a dominant night for the team.
“Offensively we struggled a little bit at times, but ultimately we put together drives when we needed them,” said White, who described Brunson’s TD reception as “an amazing catch,” something we’re becoming accustomed to seeing from the youngster.
“And I thought the line played well, and the defensive line was incredible,” the head coach added of the unit, which included an outstanding night from junior Eric Latoya.
The win sets up a semifinal showdown for the No. 3 seeds in the bracket against either No. 2 Archie Williams or No. 7 Newark Memorial, who play their opening-round game on Saturday afternoon.
If Archie Williams wins that game, then Del Norte would travel to San Anselmo next week, but if Newark Memorial can pull off an upset then the semifinal will be in Crescent City.
Either way, if the Warriors continue to play the way they did on Friday night it might not matter where that game is played.
“We keep getting better and better every single week,” White added. “We’ve got young kids starting and we’ve got some senior leadership and it’s gelling right now.”
