Columbus advances to fourth state semifinal in five years with win over shorthanded Doral

Top-seeded Miami Columbus advanced to the state semifinals for the second consecutive season and fourth time in the past five years following a 31-3 victory over Doral Academy in the Region 4-4M championship game Friday night at Tropical Park.

Columbus (12-1) scored on both of its third-quarter possessions to put the game out of reach to advance to Friday’s state semifinals where it will host Ocoee at Tropical Park.

The absence of Mark Wilder for most of the first half and all of the second doomed the Firebirds’ hopes of upsetting the Explorers.

Wilder entered Friday’s play as Miami-Dade County’s leader rusher with 2,137 yards and 24 touchdowns but what coach Eddie Delgado described as a pulled groin limited the senior to 28 yards on four carries.

Wilder had been “battling through the injury for the last several weeks’‘ according to Delgado, but said he aggravated it pretty badly in the first quarter of Friday’s game.

“With him out there was a domino effect with other positions having to make up for him not being there,’‘ said Delgado, whose team lost to Columbus, 35-7, Oct. 14 in a District 15-4M game when Wilder rushed for 31 yards and 10 carries, his season low before Friday. “We’re not as deep and its hard to replace a guy who has rushed for over 2,100 yards.”

The Explorers, ranked 27th nationally by MaxPreps, took the second half’s opening kickoff and drove 64 yards on 13 plays, including two fourth-down conversions.

Alberto Mendoza completed a 19-yard pass to Darriel Harper for a first down on the on Doral’s 20-yard line and the second for a 21-yard touchdown after a sack.

Irvin ran for a 1-yard touchdown for Columbus’ other score of the quarter.

Between the touchdowns, the Firebirds (8-5) had an apparent 66-yard touchdown pass from Jorge Rodriguez to Ryan Gonzalez nullified by an illegal receiver downfield penalty, caused when a receiver improperly lined up.

Jancent Wallace intercepted a pass by Rodriguez and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown with 2:35 to play.

Doral ended the Explorers’ bid for a fourth consecutive shutout on the game’s opening drive on sophomore Luca Guerra’s 44-yard field goal after his 39-yard field goal was nullified by a delay of game penalty.

The Firebirds were held scoreless the rest of the game.

Guerra, who is also Doral’s punter, figured in the next score, dropping the snap and getting tackled on his own 12-yard line. Columbus’ Sedrick Irvin Jr. ran 5 yards for a touchdown two plays and a defensive holding penalty later.

William Allen missed a 37-yard field goal attempt for Columbus on what should have been the final play of the first half, but the Firebirds were called for running into the kicker. Allen then made the 32-yard attempt increasing the Explorers’ lead to 10-3.

This story was originally published November 26, 2022 at 12:18 AM.