Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Del Norte Warriors have a home playoff game on Friday night.
By Ray Hamill — If everything goes right this weekend, the H-DNL could be the first league to win a North Coast Section championship in football this year.
Four of the five league teams to qualify for the postseason will play in the Division-7 bracket and all four have avoided each other in the opening round.
That means if all four schools can successfully navigate their playoff openers it would set up a pair of all-local semifinals next week and guarantee the H-DNL at least one section title this year.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, and for now here’s all you need to know about the weekend games and where fans can watch, listen to, or take in all the excitement.
Three of the five games involving local teams will take place here on the North Coast, two will be broadcast live on the radio, and three will be available to live stream on the NFHS network.
Ferndale is the highest seeded H-DNL team in the Division-7 bracket and the No. 2 Wildcats will open at home against No. 7 Vallejo on Saturday afternoon at Coach Carlson Wildcat Field in Ferndale, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.
The Cats will be the only local team to feature on Saturday.
Four other H-DNL teams will open their playoff campaigns on Friday night, including the Arcata Tigers who are the highest seeded local team involved.
The Tigers, who stormed their way to an impressive 9-1 record this fall, are the top-seeded school in the Division-6 bracket and open at home against No. 8 Bethel at McKinleyville High.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and the high-flying Tigers are guaranteed to host their games here on the North Coast for as long as they continue to win.
Also on Friday night, in Division 7, the No. 4 Del Norte Warriors will host No. 5 Kelseyville in Crescent City.
That game will be broadcast live on local radio, with John Pritchett and John “Mad Dog” Horner calling the action from Mike Whalen Field on KPOD 97.9 FM, as well as through DelNorteSports.com.
The No. 6 Fortuna Huskies and No. 8 St. Bernard’s Crusaders will both travel for their playoff openers.
The Huskies open at No. 3 Piedmont and the Crusaders open at No. 1 Moreau Catholic, with the St. Bernard’s game also being broadcast on local radio.
Longtime announcer Tag Wotherspoon will call the action from Hayward on The Beat 95.1 FM, with the pregame show starting at 6:45 p.m.
All of the Friday night games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The St. Bernard’s, Arcata and Ferndale games will also be streamed live on the NFHS Network for a small subscription.
Fans are also reminded that tickets for all of the games will not be available at the gate and can only be purchased online through GoFan.co.
