File photo – The Arcata girls lost at Branson on Wednesday night.

The Ferndale girls are the only H-DN team to advance to a weekend North Coast Section championship game after a busy Wednesday night for local teams.

The No. 1 seeded Wildcats comfortably won their Division-6 semifinal at Ferndale High, defeating Rio Lindo Adventist by a score of 56-12.

Three other H-DN teams lost their semifinals on Wednesday, including two in the Division-4 girls bracket.

The No. 5 McKinleyville girls lost at top-seed Piedmont by a score of 67-29, as the high-flying Highlanders remained unbeaten on the season and improved to 26-0.

The Panthers dropped to 17-10.

Also in Division-4 action, the No. 6 Arcata girls fell 56-46 at No. 2 Branson.

The Tigers dropped to 14-12, while the Branson girls improved to 18-11.

In boys action, the South Fork Cubs lost their Division-6 semifinal.

The No. 3 seeded Cubs fell 62-42 at No. 2 San Francisco Waldorf.

All four of the H-DN teams in action on Wednesday will advance to next week’s NorCal tournaments, regardless off how they fared in the semifinals.

The NorCal brackets will be announced on Sunday.

On Tuesday night, the Eureka girls also lost their Division-3 semifinal at No. 1 Marin Catholic, falling 51-28 to end their season.

File photos/Phoebe Becker – Wesley Way in action for the Cubs in their NCS quarterfinal win over the weekend.

Tommy Rotbergs

San Francisco Waldorf 62, South Fork 42

In a showdown between the Nos. 1 and 3 Division-6 teams in the state, according to MaxPreps, the Wolverines prevailed with a 20-point win.

The home team, ranked No. 1, caught the Cubs off guard with some outstanding defense.

“We weren’t prepared for their pressure defense as much as we thought we were,” South Fork head coach Taylor Morrow said. “Big credit to San Francisco Waldorf. They played like a real championship team.”

The game was tight for the first half, with just a few points separating the two teams at the interval.

“We had some really great moments, but we just couldn’t string enough of them together to overcome the four-point deficit at halftime,” the South Fork coach added. 

Tommy Rotbergs led the way offensively for the Cubs and finished with a hard-earned, team-high 17 points, while teammate Jesus Duron added nine points and Ruben Lopez had a good night off the bench to finish with five points.

With the loss, the Cubs dropped to 19-6, while the Wolverines improved to 21-5.