SPANISH FORT, Ala.—Spirits were still soaring Monday night when the City Council honored the Spanish Fort High School football team for its first 5A State Championship Dec. 3 against Briarwood Christian School.

“You need to remember and cherish what y’all guys have accomplished,” Spanish Fort Mayor Joe Bonner said during Monday’s regular council meeting when he told the crowd assembled the Toros “made history” and “continue to put Spanish Fort on the map of this state and of this country.”

And the praise was certainly no revelation for Bryant Vincent, SFHS’s head football coach and athletic director, who said his varsity players give everything they’ve got six days a week for 18 to 19 weeks each fall.

“There’s only one way you win a championship, and that’s when you’ve got the entire community,” Vincent said, noting community supporters and members of the council played as much a hand in the team’s 2010 success as the players and coaches themselves.

In fact, Vincent said he worried a bit when a new principal took the helm of SFHS in August, but Marty McRae has done nothing but support and encourage the students and the program. Of course, the kids come first, then academics, then football, Vincent said.

“It takes so many things to win a championship, and that’s why we got it …. It’s what we’ve got inside. It’s our crowd, and it’s our community, and it’s our commitment from the city. It’s just special, and it takes everybody together,” Vincent said.

Bonner closed by telling the team to “treasure” the accomplishment.

“Guys, job well done,” he said.

(Staff video by Kelli M. Dugan)

Click here to access The Bulletin’s YouTube channel, The Bulletin Extra, for more videos.