Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Fortuna boys will open the NCS playoffs at home againstFort Bragg on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — Five different H-DNL boys soccer teams have qualified for the North Coast Section postseason, four of which will open at home.

Fortuna, Del Norte, McKinleyville and Eureka will all kick off the playoffs in front of a home crowd on Wednesday, while Arcata will open on the road.

Surprisingly, league champion Del Norte did not receive the highest seed of the local contingent in the 14-team Division-1 bracket.

The Warriors are seeded No. 4 and will play No. 13 Gateway in Crescent City on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

The Del Norte defense has been outstanding in recent weeks and has not allowed a goal in more than 440 minutes of play.

The league championship was the program’s first since 1995.

Fortuna, which finished second in the H-DNL, is seeded one spot higher than the Warriors at No. 3 and will host No. 14 Fort Bragg on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

That game will be one of three played in Humboldt County on Wednesday night.

The Eureka Loggers, who were in contention for a league title until their final game of the regular season, are seeded No. 6 and will kick off against No. 11 Middletown at Albee Stadium, also at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Arcata Tigers are seeded No. 8 but will open on the road at No. 9 Lower Lake.

The Trojans get to host the game because they are league champions after clinching the North Central League I.

And rounding out the local contingent of teams to qualify for the NCS playoffs is McKinleyville.

The Panthers, who closed out the regular season with a pair of impressive wins this past week, are seeded No. 10 and will open at home against No. 7 Summit Tamalpais, also on Wednesday night at 7.

Head-Royce is seeded No. 1 and Making Waves Academy is seeded No. 2, and both schools will have an opening-round bye.

The quarterfinal will take place on Friday and Saturday.

If Fortuna and Eureka both win their opening games they will face off against each other in the quarterfinals.