NCS hopes alive, kicking for 15 local teams

The second week of North Coast Section playoffs in basketball and soccer will give several local teams a chance to win a section title before the week is through.

With the top-seeded Montgomery High School boys soccer team and Cardinal Newman girls soccer team leading the way, a total of 15 local squads are still in the hunt in the NCS playoffs. Seven girls basketball teams and three boys teams will be among the semifinalists playing Wednesday night in NCS action, along with one boys soccer team and four girls soccer teams.

There are also local wrestlers preparing for the CIF State Championships in Bakersfield, so there is still a lot left to be decided in high school winter sports.

The Montgomery boys soccer team, which last year advanced to the regional finals, is off to a strong start in NCS play, having defeated fellow Sonoma County teams in each of the first two rounds of the Division II tournament, beating Windsor 2-0 before dispatching Maria Carrillo 6-0 to reach the semifinals. The Vikings will host ?No. 4-seeded Newark Memorial at ?7 p.m. Wednesday at Santa Rosa High School for the right to play in the section final this weekend.

The area’s other top seed remaining, the Cardinal Newman girls soccer team, will host Piedmont at 7 p.m. Wednesday at El Molino High School in the Division IV semfinals. The ?No. 2 Montgomery girls will host Northgate at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the opener of a doubleheader with the boys team at Santa Rosa High in Div. II. In Div. III, No. 2 Petaluma will host Campolindo and No. 4 Analy will travel to top-seeded Miramonte.

In girls basketball, it’s No. 3 seed Montgomery at No. 2 Bishop O’Dowd in Div. 2, No. 2 Cardinal Newman hosting St. Joseph Notre Dame in Div. 3, a matchup of local teams in Div. 5 with Rincon Valley Christian visiting Cloverdale, and Div. 6 matchups between local teams in ?No. 1 Laytonville hosting Calistoga, while Credo travels to California School for the Deaf. All games are Wednesday.

No. 3-seeded Clear Lake will travel to meet No. 2 University in the Div. 5 semifinals, while fourth-seeded Mendocino and third-seeded Point Arena both go on the road, with Mendocino at Cornerstone Christian and Point Arena meeting Jewish Community at International High School.

In wrestling, athletes who advanced out of last weekend’s NCS meet will be taking on the best in California in the state tournament at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

Windsor wrestlers Blake Frederickson and Trent Silva lead the contingent of boys heading to Bakersfield. Frederickson took the NCS title in the 113-pound class, while Silva took first in the 145-pound division.

In girls wrestling, a pair of Casa Grande athletes earned high places at NCS and are headed to state. The Gauchos’ Lillian McCoy won the 235-pound class last weekend, while Arora Viera took second in the 143-pound class. Upper Lake’s Adriana Lopez won the 121-pound class to advance to state.

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