‘For Danny’: Champagnat dedicates title to late defensive coordinator, coach’s brother
It couldn’t help but feel like divine intervention for Hector Clavijo and Hialeah Champagnat Catholic in the waning minutes of the Class 2A championship.
Danny Clavijo’s presence had been felt all throughout Champagnat Catholic’s latest championship run.
In June, the long-time defensive coordinator — and younger brother of the head coach — died in a car accident. His death rocked the small school and the tight-knit group of players, some of whom had known him since long before they started high school.
They thought about him every time they ran sprints, wrote his name on their cleats and kept photos of him by.
In the final minutes, Champagnat locked up a third state title in four years with one of its most spectacular plays of the season. Tyous Taylor, with Clavijo’s picture tucked in place of a play sheet in his quarterback wristband, tossed a fade throw perfectly to the back-right corner of the end zone.
Malik Rutherford, who had carried a poster with Clavijo’s picture out to midfield a few hours earlier for the pregame coin toss in Tallahassee, stuck out his right arm and grabbed the championship-clinching touchdown with one hand to finish off Jacksonville University Christian.
“I know Malik’s good,” Clavijo said, “but I think he might have helped him a bit on that one.”
Said Rutherford: “He’s always with me at all times.”
The Lions’ celebration started on the sidelines at Doak Campbell Stadium. Tears welled in eyes. Smiles froze on faces as the final seconds ticked away on a 41-27 win.
Champagnat (11-2) wanted to win another state championship for the Clavijos. In comeback fashion, the Lions did.
“I usually have a lot to say. I’m kind of speechless right now,” Clavijo said. “Everything we’ve gone through, I’m just proud.”
Champagnat, which hadn’t trailed at halftime since October, blew an early 14-0 lead and trailed 15-14 at halftime.
It had been one of those halves where nothing goes right. The Lions allowed a fourth-down conversion when they jumped offsides and barreled over University Christian’s center.
They gave up a 2-point conversion and an onside kick. They twice gave up big gains when they bit on a throwback play and couldn’t quite figure out how to slow down the Christians’ wildcat-heavy rushing attack.
Champagnat, which had outscored opponents by more than 45 points per game throughout the postseason, was in danger.
“Kids were already crying,” Clavijo said, “and they weren’t crying because they were losing. They were crying because they felt like they were letting somebody down.”
Clavijo had been at a graduation event when he heard about the car accident. He was with the group of seniors from the Lions’ 2019 team and they were all in disbelief.
Often, the Clavijos were inseparable. Hector took over as Champagnat’s coach in 2018 and Danny was his defensive coordinator for two seasons, helping the Lions reach the 2A championship in 2018 and win it in 2019.
The team, which had been separated for the late spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reconvened for Clavijo’s funeral.
“It was brutal,” Clavijo said. “He was more like the brother. I was more like the dad, I guess, so he was with them a lot more.”
Champagnat didn’t just think about him. The Lions dedicated their whole season to him.
“We made a promise at the beginning of the season,” said Rutherford, who signed a national letter of intent with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Wednesday. “We were going to win another one for him and that’s what we did.”
Moments before kickoff, Rutherford walked out to midfield alone, but with a poster bearing Clavijo’s image. “STILL COACHING IN HEAVEN,” it read, alongside of a picture of Clavijo from Champagnat’s 2019 championship celebration. He brought it back to the bench after the coin toss and it waited in the Lions’ crowd until they were ready to celebrate with it.
Taylor, though, kept a picture close by all season, pressed against his wrist where a play sheet would normally be. The quarterback only knew Clavijo briefly — he transferred to Champagnat earlier this year — but the first conversation he ever had with Clavijo stays with him.
“The day I walked into Champagnat, he told me, ‘We’re leaning on you to win us a championship,’” the senior recalled. “I said, ‘Coach, I promise I’m going to get us one.’
“We got it. All this right here’s for Danny.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 6:32 PM.
