Columbus tops Deerfield Beach in fourth-quarter shootout to claim 8A tri-county title

There may not have been a berth in the state championship on the line this time.

But that didn’t mean Columbus and Deerfield Beach, two programs that squared off against each other in the 8A state semifinals each of the last two years, weren’t going to go at it with just as much intensity when they squared off Saturday night at Traz Powell Stadium in the Class 8A gold bracket championship game of the South Florida tri-county tournament.

And what a treat the crowd got as the game exploded into a series of big plays in a fourth quarter that featured four lead changes.

And once again, it was Columbus that frustrated a determined Deerfield team by coming up with one more big play than the Bucks, emerging with a 27-24 win to capture the 8A Gold Championship.

The payoff moment came with 5:12 left when, trailing 24-20, Columbus quarterback Fernando Mendoza scrambled to his left, squared up and tossed a perfect throw to the end zone just before he got clobbered by a charging Bucks defensive lineman that found his favorite receiver, Chris Gibert, for a 13-yard touchdown.

“I wanted to go with the slant but it wasn’t there so I just rolled out to try and buy myself more time,” said Mendoza. “I saw Chris coming across and I knew the window was tight. If I threw too early it wouldn’t be there but if I waited another second, I could see him coming open but knew I would take the hit. That’s no problem, it’s called sacrificing for your brothers.”

It marked the eighth time the two hooked up on the night as Gibert finished with eight catches for 94 yards including a 3-yard touchdown from Mendoza in the first quarter that gave Columbus an early 7-3 lead. Mendoza finished his big night 16-of-25 for 226 yards and three touchdowns.

“It’s a play we work on all the time in practice,” said Gibert. “I saw Fernando was rolling the other way and knew I had to make a play and come across the other side of the field and allow him to put only where I could get it.”

The Bucks took the next possession and drove to the Columbus 42 with 2:04 left and faced and fourth and 4. But when quarterback Marquise Pierre tried to scramble up the middle, Daylen Russell, Rodney Williams Jr. and Kesean Norris-Hayes were there to drag him down 2 yards short.

Just when it looked like the Explorers might have to punt it back after the Bucks used two timeouts, Deerfield got called for a personal foul (hands to the face) on third down giving Columbus a first down allowing them to take two kneel downs.

The win wasn’t quite up there from a year ago when Columbus turned in a dramatic late rally to edge Apopka and win the 8A state title, but one would’ve ever known it by the way the coaches and players celebrated.

It also ended a perfect 9-0 season for the Explorers, who made the difficult decision back in August to opt out of this year’s state series and thus not be able to defend their title. After going 6-0 in an abbreviated regular season, they never even played a quarterfinal or semifinal in the tri-county playoffs as both Douglas and Monarch were forced to forfeit due to COVID issues.

“I was a little worried because be hadn’t been behind in a game all season and a lot of this was uncharted territory for us,” said Columbus coach Dave Dunn. “We hadn’t played in a month and I kind of thought that’s why we were rusty in the first half but we got some things going in the second half and started mixing the running and passing game up a little bit better.”

Columbus led 13-3 late in the third quarter before the game exploded.

After the Bucks cut it to 13-10, Columbus answered with a long drive when Mendoza made his only mistake of the night. He underthrew a soft pass to the end zone that Robert Floyd intercepted and returned 102 yards to the other end zone to put the Bucks up 17-13 with 8:13 left.

Four plays into the next drive, Mendoza rolled left and found Jahvar McSweeny in the left flat. A diving Bucks defensive back gambled on the interception and lost. McSweeny took the pass and raced to the end zone for a 58-yard score. 20-17 Columbus, 6:49 left. Not for long. On the ensuing kickoff, Deerfield’s Deion Smalls took the ball at his own 2 and took off bobbing and weaving his way to a 98-yard kickoff return. 24-20 Deerfield, 6:32 left.

Mendoza hit Gibert for 32 yards on the very first play of the next drive to get the Explorers to the Bucks 32 before finding his favorite receiver for the game-winner four plays later.

Said Dunn: “It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to defend our state title but I’ll tell you this, I’d still line up our kids against anybody in the state of Florida tomorrow and feel good about our chances.”

Fort Lauderdale wins 7A silver title

It didn’t matter that they were in the No. 5 spot when the original seedings were announced. When it came to performing on the field, the Flying L’s of Fort Lauderdale high school acted like a No. 1 seed for the last few weeks.

Following road wins over No. 4 Royal Palm Beach and top-seeded Blanche Ely in the semifinals, the L’s capped off a terrific run Saturday afternoon when they easily downed South Broward 35-6 in the 7A Silver Tri-County Series Championship game at Traz Powell Stadium.

“What a terrific thing they did putting a tournament like this together,” said Fort Lauderdale head coach Richard Dunbar. “We struggled so badly at the start of the season dealing with the loss of players due to the COVID restrictions that we weren’t sure if we would actually be able to keep things going at one point. Then we get our players back, make it into this tournament and watched everything come together and culminate today with this great victory.”

Dunbar watched his team dominate the first half and take a 20-0 lead to the halftime locker room thanks to a pair of Luca Foerch-to-Jahmal Edrine touchdown passes of 28 and 56 yards and a 65 yard pick-six by Demitray Fields 2:16 before halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, South Broward gave itself a slight chance when J.T. Tabora found Eric Burton Jr. for an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-6 with 5:34 left. But Fort Lauderdale then took advantage of a short field just three plays after recovering an onside kick as Joshua Jennings bolted 31 yards for the putaway score.

Fields then put the final touches on a great day for his team when he picked off a Tabora pass at his own 10 and took off 90 yards down the sidelines for his second pick six of the day to complete the scoring.

“I just wanted to do whatever I could for my team today to find a way to get this victory and win this championship,” said Fields. “I’m a senior and this was my last game so it means a lot to go out a winner like this. We’ve worked hard to build something special at this program and I want to be part of leaving a legacy here for the future players.”