Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Neil Moon and the McKinleyville Panthers will tip off the NCS playoffs at home on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL will be well represented in this year’s North Coast Section basketball playoffs with 13 teams included.

The brackets and seeds were announced early Sunday afternoon, with seven league boys teams qualifying and six local girls teams.

Tuesday night will feature a doubleheader of playoff action at Arcata High School, with both Tigers teams hosting their openers.

All seven boys programs will play their midweek openers here on the North Coast, including an all-local showdown between Eureka and Hoopa in Division-5 action on Tuesday night.

Two of the four girls teams included — St. Bernard’s and Ferndale — each received an opening-round bye, with four other local girls teams tipping off their playoff campaign in midweek first-round games, although only one of them will play at home.

Fresh off their Big 5 and Dick Niclai championships, the McKinleyville boys received the No. 6 seed in Division 2 and will host No. 11 El Cerrito on Wednesday night at 7.

Dick Niclai runners-up St. Bernard’s received the No. 3 seed in Division 3 and will tip off the postseason at home against No. 14 Miramonte on Tuesday night at 7.

In Division 4, the Del Norte Warriors are seeded No. 8 and will host No. 9 Head-Royce on Wednesday at 7 p.m., while three H-DNL schools are included in the Division-5 bracket.

Eureka received a favorable No. 2 seed and will host the No. 15 Hoopa Warriors on Tuesday night at 7, while earlier in the evening the No. 5 Arcata boys will host No. 12 Berean Christian, with tip off set for 5:30 p.m.

Rounding out the H-DNL boys teams in this year’s playoff field are the Ferndale Wildcats, who are seeded No. 7 in Division 6 and will host No. 10 Rio Lindo Baptist on Wednesday night at 7.

In the girls brackets, Little 4 champs St. Bernard’s received a No. 1 seed in Division 3 and Ferndale is seeded No. 2 in Division 6, and both schools will have an opening-round bye, before tipping off their playoff campaign at home next weekend.

The Crusaders, who will host their bracket games as long as they keep winning, will play either No. 8 Liberty or No. 9 San Leandro on Friday night.

The Wildcats will open against either No. 7 Mendocino or No. 10 San Francisco Waldorf on Saturday.

Two H-DNL girls teams are included in the Division-1 bracket.

No. 3 Arcata opens at home against No. 14 Campolindo on Tuesday night, taking the court after the Arcata boys at 7 p.m.

Eureka is seeded No. 12 in the bracket and will travel to play No. 5 Alameda, also on Tuesday night at 7.

The Fortuna girls are in the Division-2 field and are seeded No. 15.

The Huskies will open at No. 2 Moreau Catholic on Wednesday night at 7.

And rounding out the local contingent of teams included in the section playoffs, the Del Norte girls are seeded No. 10 in Division 3 and will open at No. 7 Jesse M. Bethel on Tuesday night at 7.

Interestingly, after the Eureka/Hoopa boys game, no other local teams can face each other until an NCS championship game, with the 13 playoff teams spread over nine different brackets.