Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Prince Latimer in action for the Crusaders during last Saturday’s NCS championship game.

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s Crusaders will hit the road this weekend for their NorCal semifinal, as they look to further cement their status as the most successful H-DNL boys team in the state playoffs.

The SB boys, who are seeded No. 3 in the NorCal Division-6 bracket, will travel to Merced, which is 115 miles east of San Jose, to take on No. 2 Stone Ridge Christian on Saturday night.

Tip off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed live through the NFHS network for a small subscription, although it will not be broadcast live on local radio.

If they win on Saturday, the Crusaders will play for a second NorCal championship in four years and a third in nine postseasons on Tuesday night.

In 2022, the SB boys became the first-ever H-DNL team to win a North Coast Section and a NorCal championship in the same season.

According to CIF records, H-DNL boys teams have won just three NorCal championships, one by Hoopa in 2000 and two by St. Bernard’s, under head coach Issac Gildea in 2022 and under head coach Steve Thrap in 2016. 

They could host this year’s NorCal championship game if they beat Stone Ridge Christian and No. 5 St. Vincent de Paul gets the better of top-seeded Redding Christian in the other semifinal.

Getting the better of the Knights, however won’t be an easy task, as you would expect at this stage of the season where there are never any easy games.

The Stone Ridge Christian boys are 24-8 on the season and have won 21 straight games after quickly putting a disappointing start to the season behind them, a start that saw them drop four straight out of the gate and six of their opening seven games.

Both teams feature relatively young rosters.

The Crusaders, who are 23-5 and have won nine of their last 10 games, don’t have any seniors on their roster, while the Knights have just two seniors on a roster of 14.

Interestingly, the Crusaders are ranked four spots ahead of the Knights in the MaxPreps Division-6 state rankings at No. 1, while Stone Ridge Christian is No. 5 despite being a higher seed for the tournament.

Both teams will also carry plenty of momentum into the big showdown,

In quarterfinal action on Wednesday night, St. Bernard’s defeated Biggs 90-57, while Stone Ridge Christian defeated Point Arena 71-60.