Palmetto outlasts Columbus for first win over rival in four seasons

Mike Manasco knows it will take head-to-head wins by Palmetto against Columbus for the schools’ annual showdown—usually a showdown with major postseason stakes and sometimes even deep in the playoffs—to really be considered a rivalry.

The Panthers’ instant-classic, but often ugly, 24-21 win against the Explorers on Friday was a step in the right direction. The two perennial powerhouses slugged through a scoreless first half and then combined for 45 points in the second at Tropical Park, trading touchdowns, leads, comebacks and crucial defensive plays before Palmetto finally put together one final defensive stand, and converted one game-winning third down deep in its own territory to top Columbus for the first time since 2021.

“Anytime you win a game like this, where we’ve been down, we haven’t beaten them since ’21,” Manasco said. “It’s great. This is great for the culture of our program, really, more than anything and we grew up today.”

After the lead switched hands four times in the second half and Panthers quarterback Andre Bailey ran for a go-ahead 1-yard touchdown with 5:43 remaining, Palmetto (2-1) was one stop and a first down or two away from pulling out a 24-21 win. The Explorers (0-3) started their try at a game-winning drive with a first down on a 10-yard run by Shawn James—the Columbus running back finished with 222 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries—and then the Panthers’ defense clamped down. Palmetto dropped James for a loss on first down and forced a short completion on second down, and then Panthers linebacker Denzley Balthazar sacked Explorers quarterback Christopher Barrow on third drive to end the drive and force Columbus to punt with less than three minutes remaining.

From there, a near-nightmare scenario unfolded for Palmetto. Explorers specialist Jaidian Rodriguez blasted a 66-yard punt down to the Panthers’ 4-yard line. Bailey mishandled a snap on first down and Columbus dropped Palmetto running back Aiden Butler for a 3-yard loss down to the 1 on the resulting slow-starting play. A short throw from Bailey to Eastern Michigan commit CJ Miller still only got the Panthers into a third-and-7 situation with the game on the line.

Palmetto had the perfect play. The Explorers lined up in man-to-man coverage. Bailey faked a handoff to Butler, who shook of a fumble on the first play of the game to become the focal point of the Panthers’ offense with 17 carries for 140 yards and a touchdown, plus three catches for 63 yards and another touchdown. While the defense drifted in one direction to account for Butler, Palmetto running back Santana Rogers leaked out in the other direction and Bailey made the easy pass to the wide-open sophomore, who rumbled made one cut to pick up the first down and then ran over a defender to pick up 15 yards and ice the game.

“If you’re in man coverage, it’s pretty hard to stop,” Manasco said.

Columbus took its final timeout, but one last 9-yard run by Butler was enough to let the Panthers kneel out the rest of the clock and snap their five-game losing streak to the Explorers.

“It meant a lot, actually,” Butler said. “It definitely gives us big momentum, but we’re not going to get big-headed.”

After a scoreless first half, the second half mostly turned into a battle of the running backs. James started the half with a 65-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage to put Columbus up 7-0 and Palmetto answered with 17 straight points, with a pair of touchdowns by Butler on a 59-yard pass from Bailey with 6:20 left in the third quarter and a 36-yard run less than four minutes later.

The Explorers, though, started the fourth quarter with a rapid-fire run of their own. Barrow connected with Columbus athlete Ajavion Willis for a 30-yard touchdown on the first play of the quarter and then James ripped off a 71-yard touchdown run on the first play of the Explorers’ next drive after Palmetto decided to punt on fourth-and-4 from Columbus’ 43.

The Panthers, after wasting a chance to seize control of the game with a drive that stalled across midfield, took over with 8:09 left, in need of a touchdown.

This time, Palmetto didn’t get cute. Starting from their own 20, the Panthers marched 80 yards into the end zone in just seven plays and four of them, including four of the first five on the drive, were handoffs to Butler.

The junior dashed for 8 yards on the first play of the drive, 6 on the second, 14 on the fourth and 12 on the fifth to push the Panthers into the red zone. Bailey then connected with wide receiver Amiel Mackey to get Palmetto down to the 1 and punched in the game-winning touchdown on the next play, faking a sneak, only to spin to his right and run around the pile into the end zone.

Bailey finished 17 of 26 for 131 yards and a touchdown, and ran nine times for 21 yards—those numbers dampened significantly by three sacks—and the game-winning touchdown.

The Panthers made no effort to hide their excitement at the end. They hopped up and down on the sideline, and quickly started to pour onto the field after Bailey took a knee to kill the last of the clock. Manasco tried to round them up because he had an important message for them: Yes, this was an important win—it gives Palmetto commanding control of District 16-7A—but they might see Columbus again; the most important games are still a long way away.

“Our kids are overhyped right now,” Manasco said. “We’ve got to act like we’ve been here before because we’ve got a long season ahead of us.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 5:20 AM.