Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from the last meeting between Arcata and St. Bernard’s in the Dick NIclai tournament semifinal.

By Ray Hamill — History will be made one way or the other on Wednesday night, as an H-DNL team is guaranteed to advance to a true state championship game for the first time in almost a  quarter of a century.

League rivals St. Bernard’s and Arcata will battle it out in the Division-4 NorCal regional championship game, with a berth in Saturday’s state final in Sacramento on the line.

Neither school has ever advanced to a state championship before, although the Crusaders have won a pair of NorCal Division-6 titles, which is as far as D-6 teams go in the state playoffs.

With a big crowd expected for the first-ever all-local NorCal final, it was announced on Tuesday morning that the game has been switched to College of the Redwoods in order to accommodate more fans.

And what a way to close out what has been a thrilling and highly successful season for the H-DNL girls teams, all nine of which qualified for the postseason.

It will also be the third meeting this season between the Crusaders and Tigers, who were seeded 1 and 2 in the Division-4 NorCal bracket and have lived up to that billing.

Both schools successfully navigated their way to the final, with some comfortable wins and some nail-biters along the way, all of which have added to the excitement.

The SB girls have won both previous meetings between the two teams this year, including a non-league matchup at St. Bernard’s in late January by a score of 49-41 and a Dick Niclai semifinal just 15 days later by a score of 52-49 in a game that went right down to the wire.

In truth, either of those games could have gone either way.

So who has the advantage this time around in a matchup with so much on the line?

The Crusaders will take confidence from their two wins over the Tigers and they are playing like a team on a mission this postseason.

But so too are the Tigers, who have steadily gotten better and better as the season has gone on and are coming off an emphatic victory in their semifinal that was quite probably their most complete performance of the winter.

St. Bernard’s is 28-5, including an impressive 12-3 mark against H-DNL teams, while the Tigers are 22-8 and 10-4 against H-DNL teams.

The loss to St. Bernard’s in the Niclai semifinal was hugely disappointing for an Arcata team that had led the game for much of the night only to be outscored 20-9 in the fourth quarter and see their tournament hopes slip away.

Just how much that loss spurs the Tigers this time around remains to be seen.

Or will the coaching make the difference?

Both staffs have done an outstanding job with their respective teams this season, but St. Bernard’s Matt Tomlin is the more experienced and has established himself as arguably the best high school coach in the H-DNL — in multiple sports — while Arcata’s Charlie Espinoza is in his first year in charge of the Tigers and can’t match his opponent’s experience.

Will that make a difference on Wednesday night?

Both teams will also be looking to make some school history as well, which also could motivate either or both.

The Tigers are seeking a first-ever NorCal championship in their second-ever trip to the Division-4 regional final, having lost in their only previous appearance back in 2014.

The players know they’re on the verge of achieving something no other Arcata team has ever managed and that could inspire them.

The Crusaders, meanwhile, are 2-1 in NorCal deciders, having won back-to-back Division-6 titles in 2015 and 2016, with Tomlin the head coach on those occasions as well.

But they’ve never made it to a true state championship game, and the SB girls will be just as eager to leave their mark in school history and qualify for a first-ever Division-4 state final, which could also inspire them.

How much of a difference all of that makes remains to be seen.

The Tigers may have a deeper roster, but the Crusaders have arguably two of the best players in the entire H-DNL — senior Madelyn Shanahan and junior Laila Florvilus — each of whom has been playing at a phenomenal level all year.

And they’re not alone.

The Sundberg sisters — junior Jocelyn and freshman Samantha — were huge in Monday’s semifinal victory and will carry plenty of confidence into the big showdown, while junior Aliyah Vigil has been one of the best and most consistent shutdown defenders in the H-DNL all year, and few players in the county provide a bigger spark off the bench than tenacious sophomore Sahara Tupua.

However, the Tigers can match all of that.

Junior guard Addison Wingate is enjoying an outstanding playoff run and has been hugely influential in keeping her team on track over the past two weeks, while sophomore twin sisters Mae and Tae Wolford have been playing at a level all season that suggests they will dominate the Big 5 for the next two years before taking their talents to the collegiate courts.

Senior guard Nora Talty also brings a calming presence and an experienced hand to the team, while Kyndle Eisner gives the Tigers a big inside presence and junior guard Mayleah Jackson gives them tremendous depth at the guard position.

As always when you get this far in the postseason — if you’re lucky enough to get this far in the postseason — there are no easy matchups and every team is on a roll and playing with a lot of confidence.

Expect Wednesday’s big showdown to come down to the final quarter and a play or two here or there to decide the outcome.

But it should be an exciting matchup and a wonderful occasion to cap what has been an amazing season for local high school girls basketball.

And most of all, it will be a great way to celebrate H-DNL basketball and a win-win situation for the league no matter who is victorious.

Game time is set for 7 p.m.