Milford High School girls hoop players celebrate during the final moments of the Spartans' semifinal win over Derryfield this past Wednesday in Derry. Milford faces Oyster River for the Division II title today at noon at UNH. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

One school is making its first girls basketball state championship game appearance since the Reagan Administration.

Another is back in the finals after a year’s absence. And the third will be returning to the finals as well – but in triplicate.

That’s the area’s representation as the high school winter sports season wraps up this weekend with three local teams in Saturday state championship games.

The No. 2, 17-3 Milford High School girls hoop team will seek its first title since 1979; the Spartans were last in the finals in 1981.

They’ll square off against No. 4 Oyster River at 12 p.m. at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym. The Bobcats come in at 17-4, and own a five-point win over the Avery Fuller-led Spartans in the regular season.

“They all came to me and said ‘We’re winning the state title this year.’,” Milford coach Mike Davidson said. “We talked about team goals, and what do you want to accomplish this year and they’re like, ‘Are you kidding me? State title.'”

Meanwhile, both the Bishop Guertin and Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfield boys hockey teams will be at Manchester’s SNHU Arena, the former at 2:45 p.m. and the latter to start the day at 10 a.m.

No. 2, 17-3 Bishop Guertin, winners of 13 straight, will face No. 1, 18-2 Concord; the two have been longtime rivals. In fact, the Tide are the last team to beat BG, 6-1 back on Jan. 18. Guertin beat Bedford in overtime two years ago to win the Division I crown. The other night Guertin obliterated No. 6 Exeter 11-2 while the Tide beat Hanover 3-1. Actually, one of those 13 in a row was a 2-1 OT win over Concord over a month ago.

“In the first game, we gave up three soft goals and in the first period, we hit two posts,” Cards coach Gary Bishop said. “The end of the first period should have been 3-0 us. That first period was crazy, and the third period was worse.”

Bishop says the key vs. Concord is to stay out of the penalty box. BG has already utilized another key.

“The key is getting there,” he said. “The kids, good for them. They’ve worked hard to get there.”

To start the day at 10 a.m, MHBDS will square off against No. 3, 16-4 Saint Thomas of Dover. The WarHawks beat the Saints 5-2 in the regular season. The interesting thing about the tri-op is that the lead school, Merrimack, went to the finals two years ago, losing to Dover. The WarHawks beat No. 1 Spaulding 5-1 in the semis, are now 13-5-2 but 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

But the semis win may have been their best effort. Not many on the WarHawks have experienced a final, but there are some who did two years ago with Merrimack.

Blake Beaulieu, Jackson Woods, Will Farrell are among a few of the players who were in the title game two years ago.

“That was something we talked a lot about before the playoffs started,” WarHawks coach Dan Belliveau said. “Let’s treat this a little more business-like. Let’s get in there, get our job done, get home, get some rest. And we’ll get ready for the next one. And act like we’ve been there.”

Which is what the Spartans will try to do in their noon game, even though it’s a whole new experience with a senior based team.

“This is it,” Davidson said. “This is our one and only chance to do it. When the last game ends, high school career is over. They’re not going to care how long the court is or anything — They’re going to go out there and kill themselves to win the game.”