Del-Norte-Crescent City (13-1) hosting El Monte (15-0), Saturday, 6:00 pm
The Del Norte Warriors have been in uncharted waters the last couple of weeks and both times they were the underdogs, and both times they logged a lot of miles and won thrillers.
Two weeks ago first year Coach Nick White and his boys made a 750-mile round trip to Hayward where the CIF North Coast Section Division 5 No. 2 seed upset top-seeded Encinal-Alameda, 14-13, after they blocked a 25-yard field goal with 16.3 seconds left that denied Encinal a victory and gave the boys from Behind the Redwood Curtain and the northwestern most part of California their first-ever NCS title.
Last week Del Notre came back to the Bay Area again only this time it was an 800-mile round trip where the boys from the far north proved they were literally “road Warriors” after quarterback OJ Calleja blasted in from 1-yard out and Kenji Adams booted the Pat with under eight minutes to play, and the defense did the rest in a 21-14 victory at The Kings Academy-Sunnyvale in the CIF Northern Regional 5-AA Bowl Game.
Calleja, a 6-0, 200-pound senior, only carried four times for five yards but two carries were for touchdowns. The workhorse was Levi Cox Cooley. The 5-8, 175-pound junior, who also plays linebacker, had the third Warriors TD and carried 29 times for 163 yards. Kobe Mitchell, a 5-11, 215-pound senior fullback and linebacker added 53 yards on 15 carries.
Mitchell also led a defense that only allowed 140 yards of total offense, and seemed better suited than Kings Academy for a driving rainstorm throughout the game since they see a lot of rain in the far North. Mitchell had a team-high seven tackles with two for loss, and picked off a pass for one of three turnovers the Warriors forced. Kai Baugh, a 6-0, 245-pound senior defensive end, had a sack and four tackles for loss for a team that totaled 11 tackles for loss.
Senior Nick Freeman had an interception and the third turnover was a fumble recovery by junior Tanner Forkner.
With the way Del Norte controlled the trenches it would seem they won’t change anything against CIF Southern Regional 5-AA champion El Monte, and that means White, and his twin brother Chris White, the offensive coordinator, are going try and pound the ball and control the line of scrimmage.
Calleja rarely throws (776 yards passing, nine TDs) but does a lot of handing off to Cox Cooley (1,547 yards rushing, 12 TDs), Mitchell (1,030 yards rushing, 15 TDs), and a third 1,000 yard rusher Chase Blackburn. The 5-11, 180-pound senior didn’t do much against Kings Academy but on the season he has 1,071 yards on the ground with 14 touchdowns. Blackburn also plays linebacker and is a solid contributor in all areas.
Forkner is also a big contributor on defense and another name to look for is leading tackler and 6-2, 220-pound senior middle linebacker Anthony Slayton (99 tackles, four sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception), who also helps anchor the offensive line at guard.
El Monte, off the Interstate 10 around 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, likes to run the ball more than Del Norte. In fact, the Lions have rolled up 5,335 yards rushing with 73 TDs to 4,160 yards and 54 TDs for Del Norte.
The Lions have one running back, 5-9, 180-pound senior David Booth, who has rushed for 2,722 and 32 TDs, and the yardage is the top reported mark in the state, with the TDs tying for fourth most reported. Another running back with big numbers is Abel Cueva. The 5-9, 165-pound senior has rushed for 1,415 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Both Booth and Cuevas are also impact payers as defensive backs, with Booth snagging a team-leading six interceptions.
El Monte was the top seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 12 playoffs and won the title in a forfeit due to teams being removed from the playoffs for rules violations.
From there, and with a week’s rest, they hosted CIF San Diego Section Division IV champion Serra-San Diego and came away with a 30-18 victory behind 315 yards and three TDs by Booth, and 121 yards rushing and one TD by Cueva.
“Their offense is very prolific so it will be a team effort to try to stop their running game,” said White, who has another brother Jason White, the head coach at Eureka. “Every player has a job on defense and they’ve bought into that their job is to play team defense.”
“The turnover battle will be huge in a ball control game like this,” continued White. “Possessions will be limited so we have to take advantage when opportunities come our way
The power rankings have El Monte one notch above Del Norte but on the surface that looks a bit deceiving since for whatever reason the computer favors the Lions schedule over the Warriors but we’re not sure why. Del Norte would appear to have played a tougher non-league schedule and the league they won, the Humboldt-Del - Big 4 would seem tougher as well, but El Monte, the winner of the Mission Valley League, has proven itself with its win over Serra last week.
El Monte has twice the enrollment plus of Del Norte, 1,830 to 878, and they have almost double the players on their roster 49 to 26, but the game is in Crescent City after it was deemed the field was in solid condition and the game was not moved to Humboldt State, which up until Thursday was a possibility.
According to White “our field is in great condition and ready to host a state championship.” That may be so but the forecast is for better than 50-percent chance of rain and temperatures in the high 40’s and that should favor the hosts, plus they have a whole community waiting to explode if White and his boys can clear one final hurdle.
“The support and excitement of our community is like nothing I’ve seen here,” White remarked. “They have our back and we have theirs.”
It might be raining and there likely won’t be snow in the far northwestern part of California, but if White along with his twin brother Chris can get their boys to produce one more win, it just might be a White Christmas in Crescent City.
