Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Xavier De La Rosa and his Eureka teammates will be playing for some school history on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — The dates and times for this weekend’s North Coast Section basketball playoff games involving local teams have been finalized.

Heading into the weekend action, two H-DNL teams are gearing up to play for a Section championship and have already secured their place in next week’s state playoffs, while a third will try to join them in the NorCal tournaments when they play in a Section third-place game on Friday night.

In Division-5 boys action, the Eureka Loggers will be playing for some school history as they try to win a first-ever NCS crown for the program.

But to do so they’ll have to win on the road for the first time this postseason.

After home wins over Hoopa, Gateway and Redwood Christian, the No. 2  seeds in the bracket will travel to Santa Rosa to play No. 1 seed Sonoma Academy.

That game will take place at Cardinal Newman High School on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.

Ad they’ll get a big send off on Friday morning.

The team will leave from Eureka High School at 11 a.m. and will receive an escort out of town from the Humboldt Bay Fire Department.

Members of the community are invited to show up at the corner of J Street and Trinity Street outside Jay Willard Gymnasium for the send off.

The Loggers, who have won their three playoff games by an average of 15 points, are 17-12 on the season, while the Coyotes are 23-5 and have won their three playoff games by an average of over 20 points.

In Division-6 girls action, the Ferndale Wildcats will renew an old rivalry in their bid for a third Section championship in five years.

The Cats have comfortably taken care of business in their two playoff games, with their stellar defense holding Mendocino and Grace Christian Academy to just 55 points combined, while winning those two games by an average of 28 points.

In Saturday night’s championship game, the No. 2 seed Ferndale girls will play at No. 1 Cornerstone Christian in Antioch.

The Cougars have been even more impressive in playoff wins over Anderson Valley and St. Vincent de Paul, winning those games by an average of 40 points.

Saturday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. and is a rematch of last year’s Division-6 final, which the Cats won in Ferndale by a score of 53-51.

The two schools are very familiar with each other, having played three times in NCS championship games over the past four seasons.

In addition to last year’s final, they also met in the 2022 and 2023 deciders, splitting those games, with Ferndale winning in 2022 and Cornerstone Christian prevailing in 2023.

Ferndale is 19-9, while Cornerstone Christian is 23-7.

Regardless of who wins, both schools will advance to next week’s state playoffs, along with the Eureka boys.

The St. Bernard’s girls, meanwhile, will be hoping to join them as they look to extend their season in Friday night’s Division-3 third-place game.

After losing their semifinal to Miramonte on Tuesday night, the top seeds in the bracket will host No. 11 Mission San Jose out of Fremont.

The Crusaders are 21-8, while the Warriors are 17-12.

Game time is set for 7 p.m.