Columbus’ Villar wins Miami Touchdown Club’s Scholar Athlete Award
Standing there wearing his shiny, glistening state championship ring, Columbus football player Max Villar closed out his high school career in style Wednesday morning.
Villar, along with his mother and father were at Arbetter’s Hot Dog restaurant, a South Florida landmark since 1959 and unofficial “Columbus hangout” along with other Columbus administrators as the Miami Touchdown Club presented him with its annual Scholar Athlete Award.
“When Mr. Pugh [Columbus principal David Pugh] contacted me last month and told me I was nominated, I was honored just to be on the list,” said Villar, who made the principal’s honor roll all four years at the school and finished with a 4.0 GPA. “Then later on he called me and told me I had actually won it and I was just blown away.”
Established in 1959 by a group of community leaders with a strong interest in supporting football in Miami-Dade County on the high school, collegiate and professional level, the Touchdown Club is a local chapter of the National Football Foundation and the high school scholarship award is handed out on an annual basis.
“Throughout the Miami Touchdown Club’s history, we’ve been supporting scholar athletes through our Operation Scholarship Program,” said MTC president Gregg Zalkin. “And today we’re honored to hand out this award to Max, a very hard working and deserving young man with a terrific future ahead of him.”
Villar played defensive end and outside linebacker for the Explorers and was one of the core seniors who helped hold the team together during early season struggles before the team turned in a remarkable postseason run delivering the program’s first ever state football championship.
A 6-3, 238-pound athlete, he is headed to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where the Hoyas have projected him as a “tweener” where he will play both DE and OLB in a 3-4 alignment.
“What an honor it is to receive this award and I’m so appreciative to the Miami Touchdown Club,” said Villar, who recorded 57 tackles, 19 TFL’s, 13 sacks, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. “To be a part of a first ever state championship for the program and then follow that up with this award is a heck of a way to go out.”
Also present for the event was his coach, David Dunn. It was six months ago that Dunn carved his name into Columbus lore forever.
Trailing Apopka 20-13 in the 8A state championship game in Daytona Beach, his team scored with six seconds left. In the ultimate moment of guts, Dunn spurned a game-tying extra point, went for two – and got it – stunning the Blue Darters 21-20 to cap off a miracle season that saw his team overcome an awful 4-4 start to win their final seven games.
“A great player but first and foremost an unbelievable leader in person,” said Dunn of Villar. “We weren’t very good early on in the year and Max was one of those seniors that really turned out to be the glue that kept us together and allowed our team to get better. When things were going south on us, he was the first one out on that practice field or in that locker room. If you were going to be in a fox hole, you wanted Max Villar in there with you.
“Then of course there’s what he did in the classroom at the same time so I can tell you that Georgetown is getting not only a great football player but an outstanding young man as well.”