Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Del Norte head coach Marc Slayton and his players look on during Friday’s championship game.

By Ray Hamill — Del Norte head coach Marc Slayton made history on Friday night, as the Warriors won the Dick Niclai championship in boys basketball.

Del Norte defeated the Arcata Tigers 46-35 in the championship game at Lumberjack Arena, giving the Warriors their fifth Niclai title and first since 2008.

And in the process, Slayton became the first head coach to win both a boys and girls Niclai championship, having also won with the Del Norte girls back in 1998.

Had the Tigers won, their head coach, Dusty Scofield, would have become the first to achieve that, having also won multiple Niclai championships with the Arcata girls.

Afterwards Slayton talked of how proud he was of his players’ efforts and paid tribute to this year’s team, which is 22-1 heading into next week’s North Coast Section playoffs.

“What’s special about this group? It’s the group that’s special,” he said.

The Warriors will find out their playoff seed on Sunday, but can expect to be included in the top four in the Division-IV bracket, giving them a couple of home playoff games.

For more on the game, see Dominant Del Norte overwhelms Arcata in Niclai decider …