championship covers?

If somebody wins a state championship here..we say, "good job". It's kind of expected.
Of the four schools I cover, there are over 120 state titles among them.

 

Side note: A team representing my newsroom beat the 1A State Champions in a three-on-three basketball tournament my first month in town. We have since referred to our newsroom as "the home of the 1A boys basketball state champions."

 

Superior.

 

Had a team win its third state title in a row in softball. Went with 'Once... Twice... 3 Times a Lady (Hornet)' in a 2-deck, off-set header and a 4-column photo of the team piled up with silly string everywhere. Had a sidebar column and a feature on the 3-time state tourney MVP. It was the only thing on the front.

 

For state champions, play to your editorial staff strengths on sports front page. If you have a great photographer, 4-, 5-column lead art may be ideal. We have done double-truck photo spreads (6-9 photos with intentional use of white space) on both state championship teams and major disasters in our area.

The more time you have to brainstorm ideas/concepts (see Ryan Sonner's suggest on page dummies), the better the results because the alleged "bad or bad-looking ideas" will be obvious pretty quick. However that same "bad idea" may not be so obvious until after deadline if created on championship night.

Great headlines in all sizes come to those who have prepared for both the thrill and agony involved in all athletic battles.