By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL will play for a North Coast Section championship sweep in girls soccer for the fifth time in six years on Wednesday.
Three of the league teams will play in the two championship games, including a big showdown between Del Norte and Ferndale for the second straight year.
And that’s not all for the H-DNL.
Three league teams will also feature in midweek boys playoff action, including an all-local Division-2 semifinal between Del Norte and Eureka at Albee Stadium, guaranteeing at least one league team in this weekend’s championship round.
The local girls teams have dominated the fall postseason since many of the NCS teams switched to a winter schedule in 2017.
Since then, H-DNL schools have won 12 of the 16 championships up for grabs, including seven of eight in Division 1.
(There were no playoffs in 2020 because of COVID-19.)
And no team has fared better than the Eureka Loggers, who won four straight D-1 titles from 2021 through 2024, as well as a championship in 2018.
Fortuna (2017) and Ferndale (2025) have each also won Division-1 championships during that impressive run for the league, while St. Bernard’s has won four D-3 titles (now known as Division 2), taking home the trophy in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024, while Ferndale also won a Division-3 crown in 2023.
The Loggers will be playing for a sixth all-time title on Wednesday night, but the No. 2 seeds in the bracket will have their hands full going up against top-seeded Kelseyville.
The Knights (21-1-1) have been the top-ranked team in the section for much of the season and are unbeaten in 22 games, dating back to their season opener against Clear Lake.
They continued to roll against St. Bernard’s in their semifinal on Friday night, barely winning 2-1 in overtime, while the Loggers were pushed all the way by Fortuna in their semifinal, before winning on a penalty kick shootout.
Eureka is 12-3-1 and Wednesday’s decider in Lake County kicks off at 7 p.m.
The Division-2 final, meanwhile, will take place in Crescent City, as the Del Norte girls look to secure a first-ever section championship and the Wildcats hope to make it three in four years.
The two Redwood League rivals also met in last year’s Division-1 championship game at Ferndale, with the home team winning 2-0.
But there has been little to separate the two schools this season, with both league matchups ending all square.
The Warriors (9-3-8) hosted Lower Lake in their semifinal on Saturday afternoon and won 1-0, stretching their unbeaten run to a very impressive 13 straight games, while the Wildcats (12-7-2) hosted Credo in their semifinal on Friday and won 3-0.
Wednesdays final in Del Norte kicks off at 2:30 p.m.
In boys action on Wednesday, three local teams will play for a place in this weekend’s championship games.
In Division-2, both Eureka (13-8-1) and Del Norte (12-6-5) are playing for a first-ever NCS championship this year and both are playing some of their best soccer at an opportune time after winning quarterfinals against higher seeds on the road this past weekend.
The Loggers, who are seeded No. 6 in the bracket, have yet to give up a goal in the postseason, having posted shutout victories over Trinity Prep (3-0) and Credo (2-0), while the No. 7 Warriors have been almost as impressive, beating Kelseyville (4-0) and Cristo Rey De La Salle (3-1) on their way to the semifinals.
There has been little between the two league rivals in their two league matchups this season, with Eureka narrowly winning 1-0 at home and tying 0-0 in Crescent City.
Wednesday night’s game kicks off at 7.
Wednesday’s other playoff game featuring a local team is in the Division-1 bracket, where the No. 4 Arcata Tigers will play at No. 1 The Bay School.
The Tigers, who won a second straight H-DNL championship this year, are 18-4-2, while the Breakers are 15-1-3.
Both schools had opening-round byes before successfully navigating their quarterfinals over the weekend.
Arcata beat league rival Fortuna on PKs after they tied 0-0 through regulation and overtime, while The Bay School got the better of Fort Bragg 3-0.
Wednesday’s game in San Francisco kicks off at 7:30 pm., and the winner will play either No. 2 Sonoma Academy or No 3 International in the weekend championship game.
The Tigers, who have never won an NCS title in the sport, are looking to advance to a second straight championship game, having lost 4-0 at Head-Royce 12 months ago.
The Breakers are the defending Division-2 NCS champs.
An H-DNL boys team has not won an NCS crown since Fortuna in 2019.
