New Northwestern starting QB Lawrence shines as Bulls rout struggling Columbus
When he transferred over from Ransom Everglades over the summer, quarterback Neiman Lawrence thought he would spend his sophomore season as the backup behind Leon Strawder at Miami Northwestern and simply “learn the ropes” behind the senior in order to be groomed to eventually take over as the starter.
But a few weeks ago, when Strawder transferred to Plantation American Heritage, Lawrence’s timetable got moved up very quickly.
Ready or not, he was tasked with taking over the Bulls offense and attempt to lead to his team to a second straight state title.
On Friday night, Lawrence, in his third start since taking over the reigns, showed everyone including his coaches and teammates that the moment has not overwhelmed him.
Lawrence completed 16-of-23 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulls to a 41-6 blowout win over Columbus at Tropical Park Stadium. After a season-opening upset loss to Orange Lutheran of California, the win was the third in a row for Northwestern, ranked No. 2 in the Miami Herald’s Top 20 South Florida poll.
“It’s really just all about the weekly preparation around here on Monday through Thursday,” Lawrence said. “We really preach that and when you do that, it will spill out over onto the field on Friday night and that’s what we did out there tonight.”
Lawrence’s numbers would’ve been even gaudier had a 69-yard second quarter touchdown pass to Nicsaint Joseph Jr. not been nullified by a holding call.
The Bulls actually got off to a sluggish start as Columbus controlled the ball most of the first quarter. A long Explorers opening drive ended on downs on the NW 33 but when Irwin James lost a fumble on the Bulls’ second offensive play of the night,
Columbus used the short field to take a 3-0 lead on a John Allen 40-yard field goal.
Lawrence then started to get hot as he led his offense down the field on a 71-yard, nine play drive culminating when, just one play after converting a fourth-and-two pass to Kenyan Thompkins, scrambled to his right and, just before going out of bounds tossed a perfect strike to a wide open Thompkins for a 27-yard touchdown on the final play of the first quarter.
After the Northwestern defense, which held the Columbus offense to a net minus-four yards rushing on the night which included four quarterback sacks, got a quick three-and-out and the Columbus punter shanked a nine-yard punt, Lawrence wasted no time, hitting Ryan Mathis for a 29-yard touchdown on the very next play.
Following another Columbus three-and-out, Lawrence led his troops down the field on another long drive (60 yards, 14 plays) overcoming the 69 yard nullified scoring toss to Joseph Jr., and found Nicholas Lennear, who made a brilliant one-handed grab, in the corner of the end zone for a 26-yard score 1:09 before halftime to make it 20-3.
Leading 20-6 at the break (after Allen hit a second field as time expired in the first half), Lawrence and the Bulls salted the game away with another long drive to open the second half and his fourth touchdown pass of the night, a seven yarder to Lennear to make it 27-6. A 1-yard plunge by James with 2:11 left in the third quarter made it 34-6 and another short TD run with Marquez Fleming with 7:32 left completed the scoring and got the running clock going.
Lawrence made sure to give the now-departed Strawder credit for helping him in the process.
“Leon was a great senior mentor for me,” said Lawrence. “I just think watching his leadership and how much the guys respected him taught me a lot. I’ve been building chemistry with the guys and there is such a strong core to work with around here and it’s made it really easy for me to take over. Hopefully I’ll be able to earn their respect as well.”
Speaking of being thrust into a situation suddenly and unexpectedly,
Northwestern head coach Quentin Victrum didn’t think he was going to be leading the Bulls as the team’s head coach until the summer. That’s when Teddy Bridgewater, amidst charges by the FHSAA of providing impermissible benefits to the players, stepped down.
Bridgewater, who returned to the NFL after the incident and is now the backup quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was in attendance on Friday night.
Watching Lawrence excel the way he has, Victrum could certainly appreciate the situation.
“The thing that really strikes you about him is that even though he’s only a sophomore he is such a student of the game,” said Victrum of his new star quarterback. “He’s a young kid but he’s just always staying late, watching film and learning. He’s continued to take on a leadership role not just on offense but the entire team. Although he’s young, he’s got that grit in him that we need to lead us. He’s just such a cool customer out there and I just knew he would be able to step right into this situation and perform.”
On the flip side of Friday night was Columbus. Having taken on a brutal schedule so far with a game in Maryland against Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Thomas Aquinas, Palmetto and the Bulls, the Explorers slowly trudged to their buses having fallen to 0-4, something they are clearly not used to. It marks the first time since 1988 they’ve lost their first four games of the season. Ironically, that year they wound up winning their final six games, won their district and made the postseason.
They hope to do that this time with a potentially more favorable schedule in the coming weeks with South Dade, Miami High and Coral Gables on the upcoming slate.
Columbus is also scheduled to finish a game with Southridge (that has been suspended three times) on Oct. 6 with the Explorers leading 14-7 with 3:33 left in the third quarter.
Following its loss last week to Miami Palmetto, the Explorers are no longer at the top of District 16-7A and would need major help to secure that district’s automatic playoff spot. Winning the Southridge game might prove vital for Columbus to improve its FHSAA power ranking as much as possible in order to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 5:50 AM.