Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Shevy Bero-Van Meter is one of eight South Fork players who are hoping to win a second NCS winners medal on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — A group of South Fork players will look to secure a rare second North Coast Section championship winners medal on Saturday night.

The Cubs will travel to Antioch to play Cornerstone Christian in the boys Division-6 basketball championship game, just three months after the school clinched a first-ever section title in football.

And eight of the players have featured on both teams, as they look to set a new standard for South Fork sports.

The ground-breaking eight include seniors Broc Conteras, Camren Washington, Justin Freitas and Shevy Bero-Van Meter, juniors Wesley Way, Zakunda Fansler and Trevor Hunt and sophomore Shawn Schmidt.

Saturday’s final also marks just the second time the Cubs have ever reached an NCS final in boys basketball, following the 1990 Division-5 championship team.

(The South Fork girls also have one NCS championship, which was won back in 1995).

And with all of that in mind, it will come as no surprise that this year’s team has caught the attention of the local community as the Cubs go in search of some school history.

“I was just really happy to see so many adults who I’ve known over the years in one way or another show up (for Wednesday’s 59-44 semifinal win over Averroes),” said head coach Taylor Morrow, who is a former South Fork player himself. “Just a lot of people showed up and were real supportive, and it’s one of the things we love to see, the kids bringing the community together.”

The NCS championship game appearance has been coming for the past couple of seasons.

Under Morrow’s guidance, the Cubs ended a three-decade championship drought by winning the Little 4 in 2022, and they followed that with a rare championship repeat in 2023.

They were unable to make it three straight conference crowns this winter after getting edged by St. Bernard’s, but a deep playoff run was always on the cards.

“Absolutely, it’s been on our list of things we wanted to do for the past three years,” said Morrow, whose team lost in the section semifinals in each of the past two seasons. “For us to finally get there is a really great achievement.”

Standing between them and the school’s second NCS championship is a dangerous Cornerstone Christian team that is seeded No. 1 in the bracket — one spot ahead of the Cubs — and will host the game.

The Cougars defeated Napa Christian 84-72 in Wednesday’s semifinal.

And Morrow and his players know there are no easy matchups at this stage of the season.

“They’re pretty deep,” the coach said of the Cougars, who are 24-6. “They’re very athletic and they like to press pretty much the whole game. They’re a really good team. They have 20-plus wins for a reason, and we’ll have our hands full.”

The Cubs will present a challenge of their own, and the semifinal victory lifted them to 20-8 on the season, giving them a 20-win campaign for the first time in over a decade.

“I think we’ll be ready to go,” said Morrow, whose team has no injury concerns heading into the big showdown. “Everybody’s at the top of their game.”

So too is the team itself, and the Cubs have been playing some of their best “team” basketball at an opportune time, with several players stepping up recently and giving them plenty of balance, something the coach has strived for all year.

“That’s been one of the huge things for us,” Morrow said of the balance. “I was hoping we’d be at this point a little earlier in the season. I really wanted us to be a dangerous team.”

If South Fork’s opponents want to focus on one player, there’s always someone else who can step up, and the Cubs have been getting big contributions from different players every night.

Senior Tommy Rotbergs, one of the few players not to play on the football championship team in the fall, has set the tone for this teammates for the past two seasons, scoring his 1,000th career point earlier this winter.

Bero-Van Meter has also been one of the most dangerous players on the roster this year after taking his game to new levels in his senior campaign. 

Ruben Lopez, meanwhile, has saved his best for late in the season and has been on fire in recent weeks.

“Ruben Lopez has really been stepping up in the last couple of games and really playing his heart out,” Morrow said of the senior.

Contreras and Freitas, who are three-sport standouts for the Cubs, have helped provide a “better rhythm off the bench,” according to the coach, and their high energy games have given the team a boost on their playoff run.

The whole roster, which also includes seniors Jace Sotelo and Brock Fowler, appear to have bought in as the team closes in on a piece of school history.

“Just the overall extra level of focus and intensity and togetherness in practice,” Morrow responded when asked what has impressed him about the players on their playoff run. “We’ve really taken a step in that direction. And it’s been really fun to be around.”

For all of the players and Morrow, who never got a chance to play for a section title as a student-athlete, Saturday’s championship showdown will be a moment to savor.

“It’s a dream come true,” the coach said. “For me personally, for the team, for the community, for the school.”

Saturday’s game tips off at 7 pm.

The game can be streamed for a fee online at The NFHS Network.