Gulf Shores coach Mark Hudspeth laughed as he walked in the interview room at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Thursday night.

“We’ve never won a championship,” he joked after a jubilant on-the-field celebration. “We don’t know how to act.”

The Dolphins have time to learn.

Top-ranked Gulf Shores completed a 15-0 season by using N.C. State commit Ronnie Royal’s 188 yards rushing and a dominating defense to hold off defending champ Ramsay 21-14 in the Class 5A title game.

“It’s not only a dream come true for these guys to win a state championship but to do it on a field like this,” Hudspeth said. “It’s really special.”

The Dolphins had never even won a semifinal game prior to last week’s victory over Eufaula. Now, they have their first state title in Hudspeth’s third year as the head coach. Ramsay (12-3) was trying to win its second straight 5A state title.

“This feels great,” said Royal, who transferred from Alexandria High three years ago. “We’ve been working hard all year. We just grind every day. This is a feeling you just don’t get a lot. It’s a great moment.”

Thursday night was all about Royal.

His 1-handed interception inside his 10 in the second half was worthy of a SportsCenter highlight reel and his 22 carries gave Gulf Shores just enough offense to hold on for the win. He scored two of his team’s three touchdowns on the way to MVP honors.

“At the end of the day, this guy has been a catalyst for us for three years,” Hudspeth said. “I felt like he deserved the ball in the fourth quarter. We wanted to put it in his hands as a senior and let him put it away, and he certainly did that. It was a fitting night for him and really good high school football game.”

The Dolphins jumped all over Ramsay early. The defense forced a fumble on the second play of the game and Landon Everett covered it at the Ramsay 2. Royal scored on the next play, giving Gulf Shores a lead it would never relinquish. It was the first of three turnovers by the Rams.

Before Ramsay could get anything going on offense. The Dolphins added to the lead on Kolin Wilson’s 24-yard run and Royal’s 55-yarder and led 21-0 before the first quarter was over.

“In the beginning, we were so amped up just to get out there,” Ramsay coach Ronnie Jackson said. “Even I was ready to get out there, and I think that hurt us. But even when things didn’t go our way, we found a way to fight through.”

Ramsay cut the lead to 21-6 at the half on Tremell Washington’s reverse, fourth-down pass to Kristian Stinson. The extra point, after a 15-yard penalty, was no good. The Rams closed the gap to 21-14 in the first minute of the fourth quarter on Ashton Ashford’s 1-yard run and Washington’s two-point conversion. Ashford, the MVP of last year’s title game, finished with 119 yards on 26 workmanlike carries.

“I thought we came out against a very good opponent, the defending champs, and the first half everything went right as we planned,” Hudspeth said. “We had a great start, made plays, took care of the ball and played great defense. The second half was a little different story. It certainly wasn’t as clean as we would have liked.”

After Ashford’s touchdown, Alabama linebacker commit QB Reese stripped Wilson on Gulf Shores’ next offensive play and the Rams recovered at the Dolphin 5.

“The message there was just, ‘OK, let’s settle down. We’re good,’” Hudspeth said. “We really hadn’t been tested in the playoffs. At that point, it could have gone two ways. When we started making mistakes, we could have faltered and let it slip away because we had not been tested. But, when it got hairy, we responded in the right way and that was the difference in the game because we could have let the wheels come off the bus.”

Ramsay started the drive ominously with a delay of game penalty. Ashford gained three yards on first down and was stopped for no gain on second by Otto Brewer and Kingston Lowe. Everett sacked Kam Keenan on third down and JaMichael Garrett stopped him for no gain on fourth to keep Gulf Shores in front.

“I’m super proud of my guys,” Jackson said. “We continued to fight. We just fell short. If we had another quarter, who knows.”

Royal’s running then fueled a 12-play, 87-yard drive that – even though it didn’t result in points – basically put the game away. Will Langston missed a short field goal attempt with 3:30 left, but the Gulf Shores defense again came up with a stop and a turnover on downs.

The Dolphins ran out the clock.

Star of the game: On Gulf Shores’ time-consuming, 87-yard, fourth-quarter drive, Royal carried for 12, 11, 7, -3, 29 and 26 yards. Five of the carries produced first downs. His 26-yard run to the 1 was originally ruled a touchdown before officials ruled on replay he stepped out first.

“I just got behind my linemen and told them, ‘We are going to move this ball,’” he said. “I trusted my lineman, my teammates and my coaches.”

Stat sheet: Gulf Shores – Wilson ran for 89 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. He also caught one pass for 12 yards. Royal had three receptions for 39 yards. Jud Harris was 5-of-10 for 62 yards. Garrett and Everett both finished with seven tackles and a sack to lead the defense. Isaiah Hammac had six. Blaize Thomas stopped one Ramsay drive with an interception in the end zone. Ramsay – Kameron Keenan finished just 4-of-15 for 2 yards. He was sacked three times. Marquel Patterson led the defense with 11 tackles. Reese finished with 9 and 2 TFL.

By the numbers: 127 — Number of total yards for Ramsay on 58 plays. Gulf Shores finished with 324 yards on 55 plays. 67 — Number of combined passing yards (62 yards for Gulf Shores, 5 for Ramsay).