Columbus makes final defensive stand to beat shorthanded Northwestern in thriller at Traz

After three second-half lead changes and an injury to Northwestern’s star quarterback, the Bulls were 18 yards away from a shocking last-minute comeback against Columbus and the Explorers one play away from escaping with a win Thursday at Traz Powell Stadium.

A battle between Miami powerhouses came down to the final seconds and Columbus, with one final defensive stand, won a 23-19 thriller on the second to last play.

“We made just enough plays to win the game,” Explorers coach Dave Dunn said.

Star running back Sedrick Irvin Jr., who’s orally committed to the Stanford Cardinal, scored the game-winning touchdown with 8:48 left and Columbus forced three turnovers — an interception, a fumble recovery and a turnover on downs — on Northwestern’s final three possessions to pull out a victory in Miami.

The Bulls, even with star quarterback Taron Dickens going out with an injury in the first quarter and two of their best offensive weapons sidelined, still had a chance to win at the end, though. Northwestern forced a punt and touchback in the final two minutes, and got the ball back at its own 20-yard line with 1:14 remaining and a four-point deficit.

For more than three quarters, the Bulls rode with wide receiver Calvin Russell as their fill-in for Dickens and the freshman, even playing without star running back Jamari Ford and star tight end Adam Moore, used his legs to keep Northwestern afloat. He ran for a touchdown in the second quarter to give the Bulls a 12-7 lead and led them on another go-ahead drive in the third by running three times for 34 yards.

Even though he ran 11 times for 92 yards with one fumble, Russell went just 7 of 21 with 110 yards and an interception, and 61 of those yards came on one play when he needed them most. On the second play of Northwestern’s final drive, Russell bought some time in the pocket and found Bulls wide receiver Elijah Hardy, another freshman, all alone for a massive gain down to the Explorers’ 19 with 57.7 seconds left.

A short pass got Northwestern to the 13, then a sack pushed the Bulls back to the 18 and they found themselves in a fourth-and-7 situation with the clock winding inside the final 15 seconds.

“The defense likes when the game is on us,” said star safety Ahmere Foster, who’s orally committed to the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Russell’s final throw went into the end zone, intended for star cornerback Rayquan Adkins, and Columbus defensive back Cameron Pineda knocked it away to seal the win with 7.7 seconds left.

The Explorers’ defense finished with two sacks, five tackles for loss, a blocked extra point and three takeaways, including a 45-yard fumble-recovery touchdown by Foster to go up 16-12 in the first two minutes of the second half.

The long touchdown, which perhaps shouldn’t have counted because the senior’s knee appeared to be down when he picked up the ball, led to the first of three lead changes in the second half.

Northwestern running back Marlin Cochran, who started in place of Ford and had 13 carries for 62 yards, scored an answer with 43.3 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Bulls back up 19-16, but Northwestern’s offense floundered from there.

The Explorers’ next drive was a 13-play, 73-yard march and Irvin, who had 27 carries for 101 yards, capped it with a 5-yard touchdown.

It was all Columbus needed. Russell threw an interception on the first play of the Bulls’ next drive and then fumbled in his own territory after Northwestern forced a turnover on downs in the red zone.

When the game was over, Dunn tried to emphasize to his players how fortunate they were to pull out this win, with the Bulls severely shorthanded and a 3-1 advantage in the turnover margin still only yielding a one-score win.

At the same time, Northwestern is one of the best teams in the country — the Bulls and Explorers are both in the top 50 of MaxPreps’ national rankings — and it pushed Columbus in a way it hadn’t yet been pushed all year.

“They had some guys out. I give them a ton of credit. They showed up, and played their you-know-whats off and gave us a battle,” Dunn said. “These guys are obviously one of the better programs in the state of Florida and anytime you can get a win against Northwestern you’ve got to take it and run with it.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2022 at 12:35 AM.