Submitted photo – The Crusaders celebrate their historic championship at Shasta College on Tuesday night.

The St. Bernard’s players made school history in more ways than one with their 48-46 win over Redding Christian in the Division-6 NorCal championship game on Tuesday night.

Not only did the Crusaders secure a second NorCal title in boys basketball in four seasons — and their third all time — but they completed a hat trick of big championships in the same season for the first time ever.

This is the first time that any H-DNL boys team has won a league title, a North Coast Section championship and a NorCal crown in the same season.

The NorCal crown, of course, is a de facto Division-6 state championship, seeing as the CIF does not hold either a SoCal or state championship within the division.

“It comes from hard work throughout the whole year, setting goals and being able to achieve those goals,” said head coach Issac Gildea, who also won a NorCal title with the school in his first year in charge of the team in 2022. “A lot of teams set goals but don’t achieve those goals. A lot of the goals we set came true. I’m proud of the kids. They’ve been working their tails off all year long.”

What is perhaps most remarkable about the championships this group of players have achieved this winter is that they did it without any seniors on the roster, and it’s a team that should only get better from here.

On Tuesday night they held their nerve late on defense, holding top-seeded Redding Christian scoreless over the final 1:42 of the game.

A pair of late Carson Costa 3-pointers — one with 4:18 remaining and the second with 44 seconds to go — gave the Crusaders their final six points of the night and the team defense made sure that was enough.

Once again it was a team effort that secured the championship, with several players playing key roles on a night when the Crusaders didn’t play their best basketball of the season.

Of course, the Redding Christian boys, who had won 14 straight games coming into the game, played a part in that.

“It was two good defenses,” Gildea said.

Sophomore Garrett Shanahan led the way in the win and finished with team highs in points (14), rebounds (nine), steals (four) and blocks (three).

Shanahan has played a pivotal role all season long for the Crusaders and that continued to be the case on the biggest stage of all.

Liam Dyer added 10 points, while Costa finished with nine points, including the two late game-clinching 3s, as well as seven rebounds.

“It was just a dream come true for him to be in a situation like that and make the plays,” Gildea said of Costa, who rose to the challenge and enjoyed a night he won’t easily forget.

Prince Latimer added six points and four assists, while Tyler Hinrichs added seven points, eight boards and four assists and made his presence felt in the second half in particular at a time when his team needed him.

The NorCal title is the third all-time for the SB boys and just the fourth NorCal boys title in the history of the H-DNL, following the success of Hoopa in 2000 and the Crusaders’ titles in 2016 and 2022.

“I’m just so proud of the kids,” Gildea said.  “This team was realistically a year away from being really good, but their attention to detail, their hard work and the way they really connected (secured the championship) … And I think we got better throughout the year.”

It’s not something that happens every year and it was a night the players and school will cherish.

“These are memories that will last a lifetime,” Gildea said.