Columbus makes quick work of Tampa Plant to return to Class 4M title game

The celebration was starting to die down for Columbus after its drama-free 27-7 win against Tampa Plant on Friday in Miami sent the Explorers to the state title game yet again when Bryce Fitzgerald asked for his teammates to huddle up one more time around him.

Mere minutes earlier, his second interception of the game — and fifth in two weeks — put a final touch on Columbus’ win and Fitzgerald was ready to start thinking about what’s next.

Fitzgerald was at home a year ago when the Explorers were playing in the Class 4M championship. When he decided to transfer to Columbus earlier this year and his new coaches asked him what he wanted to accomplish in his first season at his new school, he said he wanted “to go to the state championship,” so he asked his teammates to huddle up one last time at Tropical Park and gave them a reminder.

“It’s my first time!”

The Explorers jumped up and down and sprayed whatever was left in their water bottles.

“We’re going to the ’ship!” they chanted and, for most of the them, it was a familiar feeling, but it still doesn’t get old.

“It’s a new experience for each group of kids,” coach Dave Dunn said.

In 2022, Columbus won its second state title on a trick-play two-point conversion in overtime. Players barked, “Let’s get two!” up and down the sideline while the clock ticked away. Now, the Explorers (12-2) are just one win away from repeating as state champions for the first time.

Until 2019, Columbus was always the would-be powerhouse that couldn’t quite get over the hump. Now, the Explorers have a chance to win their third state title in five years when they face Jacksonville Mandarin at 3 p.m. Friday in Tallahassee.

After Columbus needed to come from behind in each of its previous two postseason games, the Explorers removed any possible drama from the 4M semifinals quickly this weekend.

Columbus started with the ball, marched 80 yards and scored to go up 7-0 in the first four minutes. The Explorers built a 20-0 lead by halftime.

Plant didn’t get past its own 30-yard line on any of its first three drives, didn’t cross midfield until the final minute of the third quarter and didn’t have a drive with multiple first downs until after the Explorers went up 27-0 in the opening minute of the third quarter.

Fitzgerald had two interceptions to set a new single-season Columbus record with 10 after he tied the mark last week. Star defensive lineman Daylen Russell, who’s orally committed to Miami, had two sacks and a tackle for loss, and FIU-bound defensive lineman Robert Williams had a sack, too. Three different Explorers scored touchdowns. Specialist Robert Czermcha made a 50-yard field goal right before halftime and pinned all five of his punts inside the Panthers’ 10.

Columbus won in all three phases, never trailed and pulled away by scoring three times in less than three minutes of game time around halftime.

“It’s always good to score first, get the lead, get the blood flowing for everybody,” said running back Agyeman Addae, who scored a touchdown on the opening drive and finished with 89 yards on 14 carries. “We’ve worked so hard for this and honestly my teammates, my O-linemen came and pulled through.”

At the start of the season, the Explorers expected their offense would be a work in progress — with four new starters on the offensive line and a new identity necessary after star running back Sedrick Irvin Jr., now at Stanford, graduated — and they were mostly right. In its two losses, Columbus combined to score just 19 points.

By now, those new offensive linemen don’t feel so new anymore and the Explorers — albeit with major help from their defense and special teams — scored in bunches around halftime to pull away.

First, Czermcha made a 25-yard field goal with 2:21 left in the second quarter to put Columbus up 17-0. Next, Fitzgerald intercepted Plant quarterback JC Mirasola to set up Czermcha for a 50-yard field goal with five seconds left in the half. Finally, the Explorers got another takeaway on the first play from scrimmage in the second half and running back Edward Bandy ran for a 17-yard touchdown on Columbus’ first play of the ensuing drive to bury the Panthers (11-3) early in the third quarter.

The Explorers leaned on the rushing attack most of the rest of the way, with Bandy also running for 72 yards on 15 carries and even quarterback Alberto Mendoza going for 55 yards on four carries, with a 49-yard designed run on the opening drive and a timely 17-yard third-and-long scramble in the fourth quarter to keep a clock-killing drive alive.

Mendoza, who’s committed to James Madison, also went 17 of 28 for 164 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

“Our guys are really starting to come of age,” Dunn said. “At this point, we’ve played 14 games. ... They’re not new starters. They’re starters.”

With a defense as good as there is in Florida and an offense cresting in the way Columbus hoped it would, the Explorers are ready for whatever kind of matchup awaits them at Bragg Memorial Stadium next week.

They’re eager to repeat — at least, most of them are. Some are excited to finally get a first shot.

“I’m glad that they took me in. I’m glad to be here,” said Fitzgerald, who spent his first two years of high school at Belen Jesuit and won a state title in basketball with the Wolverines last season. “I talked about this since I was a kid and now it’s all coming to reality.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2023 at 12:04 AM.