The Woodcreek High basketball team has endured a few bumpy rides on its way to the Northern California title game.

For the Timberwolves, most of the bumps have not come on the court, where Woodcreek has dominated. A few weeks ago, coach Burnel Pinkerton braved the icy roads alone in the school van on his way back from a win at Nevada Union as the vehicle fish-tailed all over the road.

On Saturday, Pinkerton was at the wheel of a school district van when it blew a tire on the road to San Jose and a NorCal semifinal date with Archbishop Mitty. The coach and the seven players on board survived uninjured and arrived safely in time to win an overtime thriller.

Fortunately, this week’s NorCal title game is just down the road at Arco Arena.

Next up for Woodcreek is St. Francis of Mountain View, a team that is attempting to successfully run the Sierra Foothill League table. St. Francis was 14-0 in the West Catholic League, including three wins against Mitty, before a loss to its league rival in the Central Coast Section title game dropped it to No. 2 in the NorCal seedings, behind Mitty.

Saturday’s semifinals featured Woodcreek besting Mitty, while Oakmont lost at St. Francis as the SFL split those games for Northern California league superiority with those two WCL rivals. The SFL has emerged as the class league in the Sacramento region, while the WCL shares that distinction in the Bay Area.

In addition to St. Francis and Mitty, which actually finished fourth in the WCL, the conference also includes Division I powers Bellarmine of San Jose and Serra of San Mateo.

Woodcreek will try to be the second consecutive SFL team to knock off St. Francis for a NorCal title. Rocklin beat the Lancers last season. St. Francis has worked its way through the SFL in this year’s NorCal tournament, with wins over Rocklin and Oakmont so far.

Now, Woodcreek will try to stop St. Francis from sweeping its way through the SFL and in the process earn a trip to Bakersfield for a state championship game.