Champagnat’s offense comes alive in second half to win third state title in four years
Hector Clavijo didn’t recognize his team and it was hard to blame him. Hialeah Champagnat Catholic had averaged more than 55 points per game throughout the 2020 postseason and was stuck on 14 at halftime of the Class 2A championship Wednesday. Champagnat Catholic was down at the half for the first time since October. Champagnat’s championship hopes rested on a complete turnaround.
The scene inside the locker room, Clavijo admitted, wasn’t pretty, but it worked. The Lions regrouped to beat Jacksonville University Christian, 41-27, in Tallahassee and win their third state title in four years.
“A lot of yelling. All the women left the room,” Clavijo said, “but they responded and that’s what it’s about.”
Champagnat (11-2) went into halftime down 15-14 and kicked off to start the third quarter. In less than three minutes, the Lions were back ahead. They forced a fumble on the fifth play of the half, then star running back Donovan Jones winded his way through University Christian’s defense for a 54-yard touchdown on Champagnat’s first play of the drive to retake a 20-15 lead.
It was the start of a 27-point second half at Doak Campbell Stadium to give the Lions a fourth state title — all since 2013.
Quarterback Tyous completed 18 of 23 passes for 246 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Benson Prosper caught eight passes for 100 yards and three touchdowns, and added 40 yards on two carries. Star wide receiver Malik Rutherford ran for a touchdown, caught another and finished with 75 total yards, and Jones, who signed with the FCS Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs earlier Wednesday, added 106 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.
“We just had to come back,” Prosper said. “We wasn’t going to go out with a loss.”
Champagnat went through most of the postseason untested. In their first five playoff games, the Lions averaged 55.8 points per game and outscored their opponents by an average margin of 46.6. They only let two opponents crack double digits and never gave up more than 18 points in a single playoff game. They took an incredible 279-46 scoring margin into the 2A title game.
In the opening minutes, the Lions did what they always do. On the second play from scrimmage, Taylor tossed a swing pass to Benson Prosper and the junior split a pair of tacklers to race into the end zone for a 51-yard touchdown. On their second drive, Taylor threw a screen to Prosper and the receiver again broke a tackle to score an 18-yard touchdown. Champagnat led 14-0 less than halfway through the first quarter and had 124 yards on 11 plays.
For the rest of the half, Champagnat had just 20 yards. On four drives, the Lions fumbled twice and went three-and-out twice. The Christians (8-5) built a one-point lead with aggressive playcalling and a three-headed rushing attack Champagnat couldn’t solve. Quarterback Desirrio Riles, running back Orel Gray and Joe Carter, a frequent wildcat quarterback, combined for 108 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries for University Christian, and the Christians twice converted on fourth down, recovered an onside kick and scored a 2-point conversion to help keep the Lions’ offense off the field.
“Coach Hector gave us a deep talk and then we just came out firing,” said Rutherford, who signed with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Wednesday. “A whole bunch of yelling, throwing water bottles — everything.”
Jones’ long run was the start of an avalanche. Champagnat scored touchdowns on 5 of 6 drives in the second half and had an answer every time University Christian tried to make a push in the final 13 minutes.
The Lions’ second drive of the half started with a 42-yard catch by Rutherford and ended just two plays later when Prosper caught his third touchdown to put the Lions up 26-15. After getting its only stop of the fourth quarter, University Christian cut Champagnat’s lead to 26-21 with 10 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Lions hadn’t unleashed Rutherford yet, though. In the fourth quarter, their best player sealed up the win, running for an 8-yard touchdown with 9:33 left and then clinching the victory with a one-handed catch on third down in the back right corner of the end zone with 2:33 remaining.
Once again, the celebration was on for Champagnat.
“I felt like we were soft and it wasn’t like us. We usually come out, we hit people in the mouth, we play physical,” Clavijo said. “We came out in the second half, we did that.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 4:19 PM.
