TUESDAY December 3, 2019
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WARRIORS WIN
but it was very close
Del Norte High School senior OJ Calleja plunges in on a quarterback keeper to put the Warriors ahead for good, 14-7. Photo by Roger Schultz/Hot Shot Sports Photography. By John Pritchett For The Triplicate
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fter arguably the greatest victory in Del Norte High School football history last Saturday night, the Warriors learned Sunday where they’ll play next. By winning the North Coast Section Division 5 championship, Del Norte has qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation State Playoffs in the 5-AA Division. On Friday, they’ll be in the regional semifinals against The King’s Academy in Sunnyvale. Game time: 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Del Norte defeated top-seeded Encinal High, 14-13, at Hayward High School in the East Bay. And they did it in dramatic fashion. With the Warriors leading by a point with just minutes to play, Encinal drove the length of the field, getting the ball inside Del Norte’s 10-yard line with 20 seconds remaining. The Jets sent in their field goal unit for a 25-yard attempt that
would win the game ... and the division championship. That’s when Warrior senior Chase Blackburn rushed from the edge and blocked the kick by senior John Brinkley, sealing the victory and sending several hundred Del Norte fans who had made the seven-hour trip into frenzied celebration. “I told him he’s my hero,” said Nick White, who in his first season as Del Norte’s head coach has led the Warriors to unprecedented success and a 12-1 record. The Warriors led Encinal 14-7 at halftime, as Del Norte’s run-heavy offense was able to move the ball effectively against a standout Encinal defense. Blackburn scored the first Warrior touchdown, on a 15-yard run midway through the second quarter, to tie the game. Quarterback O.J. Calleja then gave Del Norte the lead late in the first half on a one-yard sneak, set up moments earlier by Levi Cox-Cooley’s 34-yard run. Del Norte kicker Kenji Adams-Lee
‘Win for your teammates,’ says pro player and coach I
made both extra points – which proved to be crucial. Encinal adjusted defensively in the second half and effectively shut down the Warrior offense. Del Norte had gained 179 yards in the first two quarters, but just 62 in the second half. After a scoreless third quarter, Encinal hit a home run when running back Isaiah Smith broke a 67-yard touchdown sprint midway through the fourth quarter. But when he overdid a resulting end-zone celebration, that drew a penalty, pushing the PAT back 15 yards. A procedure penalty against Encinal tacked on five more yards. The 40-yard extra-point kick was close, but missed. Del Norte kept its lead. And the Warriors never gave it up … although in the closing minutes, as Encinal moved down the field, it was looking increasingly bleak, especially when quarterback David Romero-Rein-
t’s been a historic week for Buck Pierce. The 2000 Del Norte High School graduate helped coach the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to its first Canadian Football League Grey Cup Championship in 29 years - a 33-12 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24. Then, Pierce saw Del Norte win its first-ever North Coast Section Division 5 title last Saturday in a thriller over Encinal High
BUCK PIERCE
School, 14-13. Pierce told The Trip-
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Wild weather – by the numbers By Linda Pinkham Staff Writer
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he wild windstorms of the “bomb cyclone” that struck Curry and Del Norte counties on Nov. 26 were universally awe inspiring, no matter where you were from Cape Blanco south to Crescent City. But was it the same experience for everyone? Not quite. So, which locations experienced the worst of the storm? The National Weather Service keeps track of not just wind speeds, direction and gusts, but also the rainfall, humidity, atmospheric pressure, temperatures, visibility and more. Samples are taken every 20 minutes. During last week’s storm, Pilot and Triplicate staff members monitored sustained wind speeds and gusts from the National Weather Service monitoring sites in Gold Beach, Brookings and Crescent City.
And the weather service records weather-related statistics as well, which comes in handy for comparing weather year to year, and region to region. Locally, the weather stations in Gold Beach and Crescent City are at their airports. Brookings has a monitoring station at its airport, but also at an agricultural monitoring station. The highest recorded wind gust during last week’s weather was at the Cape Blanco headland - 106 mph according to Marc Spilde of the National Weather Service in Medford. The more southerly towns of Gold Beach, Brookings and Crescent City didn’t come close to reaching Cape Blanco’s officially recorded wind gust speed. (Unofficial reports on social media reported a 110-mph gust in Gold Beach and 71 mph in Harbor, but it’s unknown if More Weather on Page A5
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Flames and smoke can be seen from the boat fire at Brookings Harbor. Photo by Jeremy C. Ruark.
Boat fire at Brookings Harbor By Jeremy C. Ruark For The Triplicate
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mergency crews rushed to Brookings Harbor shortly before 11 a.m. Monday to the scene of a reported boat fire. “When we arrived on
scene, we could see heavy smoke showing from the boat,” said Harbor Fire District Assistant Chief Joshua Frame. “We set a 2-inch line down to start sending water to the boat as soon as possible. We had a Brookings Fire & Rescue unit
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directly behind us laying a 5-inch water line.” Frame said there was no one aboard the docked 85-foot Miss Pacific when fire crews arrived. The U.S. Coast Guard sent two fire boats to assist in containing the blaze, and a Coast Guard
helicopter flew overhead to render any assistance needed. Firefighters from Gold Beach and Smith River assisted Harbor Fire and Brookings Fire & Rescue. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
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