SPANISH FORT — For the first time in Alabama High School Athletic Association history, a new state championship trophy was awarded when the Spanish Fort Toros swept Pelham in the Class 6A volleyball finals Wednesday morning in Birmingham.

Instead of the all-wooden trophies in the shape of Alabama that have traditionally been presented to state champions, the center of this trophy was clear plexiglass. With “Blue Maps” awarded to the state champions and “Red Maps” taken home by state runners-up, Spanish Fort became the first school to earn a “Clear Map.”

After the Toros hoisted the hardware at Bill Harris Arena, head coach Gretchen Boykin said she had to look again to take in the new version of the trophy.

“When I first saw it, I was expecting the blue front, and it wasn't blue,” Boykin said during Wednesday evening’s welcome celebration at the high school. “So I did a second take, like, ‘What?’ But then I thought, ‘Wow, that is really cool.’ And then somebody said it was the first one that any team has won so I said, ‘That's extra special.’”

While Spanish Fort High School boasts around 35 state championship trophies in the main lobby, receptionist Tisa Hadley re-established the expectation before Boykin and the Toros even left town for the state tournament.

“They already have a space on our bookshelf up at the front office that’s cleared off for it,” Boykin said. “(Before we left, Hadley) said, ‘Gretchen, we've got to get a blue one right there.’ And I said, ‘I’ve got you, we're coming back with it.’ So I think that's going to be super exciting to have that front and center, and it being the one different one from all the rest.”

After the community welcomed them back to town Wednesday afternoon, a group of Spanish Fort players took the “Champions Walk” down the hill from the competition gymnasium to the main lobby where state championship MVP Taylor Ishmael placed the trophy in its new home.

“It's so cool that we were actually the first state champions to get that trophy,” Ishmael said. “Seeing that, it's something so cool.”

Stay tuned for more on how the Toros claimed the crown and their reaction to a fourth state title.