CENTRE – Cherokee County football coach Tripp Curry may have found something just as tough as calling plays against an opponent: choosing championship ring designs.

Curry said all of his ideas were changed by the Warrior football seniors, but that was all right with him.

“I thought I could go in there and just start to pick them out, and when the seniors came in (to give their input), we could have an idea of where we were going with this thing,” Curry said. “Well, when they come in, they changed every single idea I had, so most of this is due to them. They did a great job.”

On Friday night, the Warriors were formally presented with their reward for a perfect 15-0 season capped with a 31-27 Class 4A state championship victory over Jackson in Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium on Dec. 4.

The ceremony, held at Bobby Joe Johnson Field, featured several local and state government representatives addressing the players, coaches and fans who attended. Each player, coach, cheerleader and several support staff members had their names called when presented with their personally specialized ring. The event was capped off with a fireworks display.

“It’s the climax and it’s also the closure to this season,” Curry said. “We wanted to close this season out some way special. All these guys have a lot of individual awards, and we didn’t just want to do a banquet. We wanted everybody to come who wanted to. We wanted to set it up as much as we could. We had the scoreboard read 31-27 and the fireworks show and we had a lot of people enjoy it.

“We try to do everything special for the kids, and we tried to make it as much about the football team as possible.”

Each of the state championship rings feature the state championship trophy on one side with the state championship game score. On the other side, the players and coaches names were engraved, along with a football helmet and the position they played or coached.

But the crown jewel, so to speak, is the top of the rings. It’s emblazoned with the words 2009 State Champions along with a gold CC interlocking centerpiece.

While the seniors had fun with Curry in changing his designs, he got the last laugh on them.

“We rehearsed a little today (Friday), and I told the kids ‘Don’t look at it until I tell you. Everybody will open it together.’ When I got up there, I told them ‘Guys, there’s a lot of people I need to thank’, and you could see every one of them go ‘Aw, no.’ They couldn’t wait. Then, I just said I want to thank the coaches and the players for winning it. They opened it (the box) up and had that ring, and it was just unbelievable to them.

“It’s going to be so great wearing those things to school. We’re excited about that.”