Columbus wins second state championship on ‘Explorer Special’ trick play in overtime

At first, they called it “Explorer Special” and then Columbus’ coaches realized it might be a little too obvious what was coming if they started yelling it out around the goal line in a key moment, so it just became “Explorer” — simple and to the point; the perfect name for the play to win Columbus a state championship.

It was overtime and third-and-goal for the Explorers at Apopka’s 5-yard line, and Alberto Mendoza took a timeout. A touchdown would win the game and everyone in the final huddle of Columbus’ season knew what was coming. It was the trick play the Explorers drilled all throughout the last two weeks: a handoff from Mendoza to Sedrick Irvin Jr., then a pitch from Irvin to AJ Arellano and finally a throw from Arellano to Mendoza. With the Class 4M championship at stake, Dave Dunn made the call, Arellano made the throw and Mendoza made the catch, and then ran into a mob of teammates to celebrate a thrilling 16-13 overtime win in Fort Lauderdale.

“They knew,” Dunn said, “what I was going to call.”

It took a blocked field goal on the last play of regulation and one last stand from its defense just to get there, but Columbus (14-1) wound up with a chance to win after holding the Blue Darters (11-4) to a field goal on their lone possession of overtime. The Explorers started at Apopka’s 10, down 13-10, and started with two straight runs by Irvin to get to the 5. It was the threshold Columbus needed to reach for Dunn to call the now-signature play.

The coach installed it just for this week as a two-point conversion play, and the Explorers drilled it somewhere between 20 and 200 times, depending on who’s to be believed. Mendoza, again depending on who’s to be believed, either caught it every time or sprinkled in a few drops.

“I caught all of them,” Mendoza said.

“Honestly, my quarterback dropped it once,” Arellano countered, “but other than that, it worked out every time.”

Either way, it only needed to work once and it did Saturday. First, Columbus sent tight end Benjamin Blackburn in motion to the left, trying to sell a stretch run toward the right sideline. Irvin took Mendoza’s handoff, darted to the left and tossed a pitch back to Arellano — “I’m probably the best pitcher in the country,” Irvin joked — to set the rest in motion.

Mendoza leaked out to the right and Arellano, who joined the Explorers as a reserve quarterback in 2020 before moving to wide receiver last year after Mendoza won the starting job, floated an easy pass to his quarterback.

“I was like, Oh, [expletive], don’t drop it,” Mendoza said. “I was a little nervous at first, like, I’m not a receiver. Am I going to catch this?”

The junior reeled it in, though, and a raucous celebration was on inside DRV PNK Stadium, which was packed with Columbus fans, who made the quick drive up from Miami.

It was a storybook ending for the Explorers and just about everyone involved with the final play.

Mendoza, who went just 11 of 16 for 148 yards and a touchdown, got to score the game winning touchdown after throwing a costly interception in the fourth quarter. Arellano, who made the position change, got to throw a pass on the final play of his career, just a few months after the death of his father. Columbus, which was mourning the death of junior varsity defensive lineman Patrick Baker just a day earlier, pulled off a series of near-miraculous plays in the final moments to win its second state title.

After Mendoza threw a 50-yard touchdown to wide receiver Jose Leon in the first quarter, the Explorers didn’t manage much of anything on offense for the rest of the game. They tried to hang on with defense — they got three takeaways, a turnover on downs and blocked two field goals — and nearly did until Mendoza’s fourth-quarter pick set up Apopka near midfield, close enough for Blue Darters quarterback Tyson Davison to run 46 yards on fourth-and-6 to tie the game 10-10 with 4:44 left.

After one more Columbus punt, the Explorers needed a stop just to get to overtime and it took until the final play of regulation to get there. Apopka got all the way down to Columbus’ 16 and stopped the clock with a spike with one second left — aided by a technicality with the clock briefly stopping when a player’s helmet came off — and tried a 33-yard field goal to win.

Star safety Ahmere Foster dove in from the side and knocked down the kick. The Explorers and Blue Darters went to overtime.

“When the game was tied and they blocked that field goal over there, all I did was pray, pray, pray,” Arellano said. “I was talking to [my dad] and I was talking to him, and I heard him say, ‘I got you. Your final game is going to be the best one that you’ve ever played in your life.’”

Back in 2019, Columbus won their first state title when they decided to go for two and the win with six seconds left to stun Apopka in the Class 8A championship. Three years later, the Explorers, who are ranked No. 23 in the nation by MaxPreps, found a way to somehow top it.

On the Blue Darters’ third-down play in overtime, Davison had a wide-open target in the end zone and only just sailed his throw to Apopka linebacker Rashad Watson. They settled for a field goal and Columbus was ready to go for the win.

If the Explorers had found themselves in a situation to go for two and the win again this year, Dunn would’ve made the same call. It’s just how confident he was in the trick play and his players’ ability to nail it.

He was right. Columbus is a champion again.

“We probably practiced that play like 200 times in the past two weeks,” Irvin said. “We all knew that if it came down to that situation, that was the play that we were going to call and it worked out perfectly.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2022 at 11:43 PM.