By Ray Hamill — A much-anticipated state football semifinal isn’t the only big game here on the North Coast this week.

Get ready for the first real busy weekend of the new basketball season, with most of the local high school teams in action, as well as some important games for the local college teams.

The weekend action includes three tournaments.

The College of the Redwoods men will host their annual Coach Tregs Classic, while the Arcata High girls and McKinleyville High boys will also host their annual tourneys.

The high school action gets under way on Thursday, and both local tournaments will run through Saturday.

At Arcata, the defending Big 5 champion Tigers are 1-0 as they get set for the Tahnia Campbell Classic.

The field also includes McKinleyville, South Fork and the Arcata JVs, along with St. Mary’s, Ukiah, Emerald and Chico.

Thursday’s action starts at 4 p.m., when South Fork plays Chico, followed by the Arcata JVs and Emerald at 5:30, McKinleyville and Ukiah at 7, and Arcata and St. Mary’s at 8:30.

The championship game is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

At McKinleyville, meanwhile, the Panthers will host their 39th annual Tip-Off Classic, which also features eight teams and tips off on Thursday afternoon.

In addition to the host school, a quality tournament field includes Fortuna, Cardinal Newman, Las Plumas, Cosumnes Oaks, Ukiah, West Valley and Analy.

Thursday’s games include Cardinal Newman and Las Plumas at 4 p.m., followed by Fortuna and Cosumnes Oaks at 5:30, McKinleyville and Analy at 7, and Ukiah and West Valley at 8:30.

The championship game is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

In other high school girls games on Thursday, Del Norte plays Red Bluff at the Yreka tournament at 3 p.m., Eureka plays Corning at the Gridley tournament at 5:30 p.m., Fortuna plays Durham at the Colusa tournament at 4:30 p.m., Ferndale plays Round Valley at the Sandy Mac tournament at 5 p.m., and St. Bernard’s plays Montgomery at the Sonoma Valley tournament at 5:30 p.m.

In other boys high school on Thursday, Del Norte plays Red Bluff at the Yreka tournament at 1:30 p.m., Eureka plays Henley, also at the Yreka tournament, Arcata plays University Prep at the Harlan Carter tournament at 5:30 p.m., St. Bernard’s plays San Domenico at the Montgomery tournament at 7 p.m., Hoopa plays Durham at the Durham tournament at 7:30 p.m., and South Fork plays Priory at the Redwood Classic tournament in Anderson Valley at 5:30 p.m.

All four local college teams also will be in action this weekend, including conference opening games for the Cal Poly Humboldt teams, and a big tournament for the CR men, who will be playing their home opener.

After five straight weekends on the road, Redwood (6-4) will host the four-team Coach Tregs Classic, with the action getting under way on Friday.

CR will play Southwestern Oregon at 7 p.m. on Friday and Mendocino at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Also in tournament play, Feather River will play Mendocino on Friday at 5 and Feather River will play Southwestern Oregon on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The CR women (4-5) will be on the road as they look to end a four-game losing skid.

Redwoods heads to Shasta College to play Solano on Friday at 5 p.m. and Yuba on Saturday at noon.

And rounding out a busy weekend for the local programs, the two Cal Poly Humboldt teams will play their conference openers at Lumberjack Arena, with Stanislaus State visiting on Thursday night and UC Merced on Saturday afternoon.

On Thursday night, the CPH women (1-3) play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men’s team (2-4) at 7:30, with the women playing at 1 on Saturday, followed by the men at 3.