Watsonville’s road to a California Interscholastic Federation NorCal championship could feature three long road trips.
The first will be a three-and-a-half-hour trek north.
The Wildcatz were given the No. 6 seed in the CIF NorCal Division II playoffs, and will travel to play No. 3 Bella Vista in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.
The teams will square off at Casa Roble High in Orangevale — 20 miles east of Sacramento — at 4 p.m.
Bella Vista, a public school in Fair Oaks with an enrollment of more than 2,000 students, is fresh off winning the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II title over Central Valley in a penalty kick shootout on Feb. 21.
The Broncos (19-3) are ranked 24th in the state by MaxPreps, and have won their last eight games.
The Wildcatz (14-3-5) lost 3-0 in the Central Coast Section Open Division semifinals to eventual champion Bellarmine when they were last on the field on Feb. 19.
Watsonville, which is ranked 51st in the state by Maxpreps, has not lost back-to-back games this season.
Galt, ranked No. 15 in the state by MaxPreps, was given the top seed in the division. The Warriors (22-1-1) will host three games, including the NorCal D-II final, if the SJS D-IV champs live up to their seeding.
Watsonville, meanwhile, could be on the road in all three rounds of the tournament if seeds hold.
The winner between the Wildcatz and Broncos will play the winner of No. 7 Soledad and No. 2 Richmond.
If both Watsonville and Soledad win on Tuesday, the two Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan division members would meet at Emmett M. Geiser Field on Thursday at 4 p.m. in a rematch of their league showdown from Feb. 1.
On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded Galt will host No. 8 Prospect, the CCS D-I champion, and No. 4 Marin Academy welcomes in No. 5 Livingston.
Complete NorCal brackets can be found here: http://www.cifstate.org/sports/soccer/scr_champ_info
