The winter 2024-25 sports season isn’t quite over yet. The North Bay Section (NBS) of the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) has several subsections, including the Redwood and the Oak divisions. Healdsburg teams generally play in the Redwood division, but the NCS has the prerogative of moving schools around depending on their record in previous years as well as their size.
Soccer Playoffs
This year locals are proud to find both boys and girls soccer teams in the NCS playoff, both in Division 4 in line with their size. Both also play Wednesday night, and results will be too late for press time, we will update this online article when we get them.
The 9-4-7 boys (3-0-5 in the North Bay – Redwood) end up with a high #3 seed in the division, and drew a 7pm first-round match against 14-seed Kennedy Richmond (11-9-4). Number 1 seed is Piedmont (7-8-4). (UPDATE: Kennedy got the win, 2-0, and will advance; Healdsburg’s season is over.)
The girls game will be played at 5pm, also on Wednesday. The 14-4-3 girls are seeded #11, and their opponent will be sixth-seeded San Rafael with their 12-8 record. Marin Academy is the #1 seed, with a 17-2-1 record. (UPDATE: Healdsburg lost to Marin Academy, 3-0, and their season too is over.)
Basketball Playoffs
The Healdsburg girls basketball team has been extremely competitive the past several years, so even though the school technically falls in Division 4 with an enrollment between 400-899 students, it competes this year in Division 2—with larger schools (1421-1899 students) and other high-performing school teams.
The NCS championship tournament began on Tuesday, Feb. 18, but did not affect Healdsburg. They will continue the rest of this weekend with final games to be played either Feb. 18 or March 1.
Over the weekend the NCS division playoffs were announced, and Healdsburg is seeded #13 out of 15 schools—a placement reflecting their season record of 19-7, 7-3 in the Redwood division. The #1 seeded team in the division is Justin-Siena (25-2, 12-0 in the Vine Valley league), which draws a bye on Wednesday. In the NCS tournament last year, Healdsburg defeated Middletown in the first round, but lost in the second round to Justin-Siena, which went on to win the division.
On Wednesday of this week, their first game is in Hayward against #4 seed Moreau Catholic. That school’s overall record is likewise 19-7, but they won their Mission Valley league with a 14-0 record. (UPDATE: The girls basketball team also lost Wednesday evening, falling 47-30 to Marin Catholic.)
With the results of Wednesday’s playoff games, no Healdsburg teams remain in post-season play. But a big shout-out and congratulations to all the student-athletes who participated in the Winter 2024-25 season!
All-League players have already been selected, but they will be announced only after the NCS playoffs.
