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The Columbus Explorers win the 4m State Championship
The FHSAA 4m State Championship was held at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale this past weekend and proved to be an amazing matchup. You just knew it had to be the Columbus Explorers and Apopka Blue Darters meeting to battle for the top prize.
Both of these programs have been dominant in the state of Florida with the Blue Darters taking the glory in 2012 against Cypress Bay and in 2014 against Columbus. In general, Apopka have made the state title game a total of six times only capturing two titles. They fell short in 2021 at DRV PNK Stadium for the state title against the Venice Indians.
For the Explorers, they have made the state title game a total of four times since being in class 8A and now 4m. They have losses against Apopka in 2014 and Mandarin in 2018 before taking home the title in 2019 against Apopka. They finished the 2021 season falling short in the semifinals against the Venice Indians.
These two programs have faced each other now three times in the state title game with Apopka taking the first meeting in 2014 by a final score of 30-24 in Orlando. The Explorers would take the second meeting in 2019 by a final score of 21-20 in Daytona.
The Apopka Blue Darters would be the first ones on the board capturing a field goal to make it 3-0 after a quick Columbus three and out. The Explorers would strike back to make it a 3-3 ball game putting an end to the first quarter.
This was an old fashioned grind it out bar fight as we expected nothing less from both of these two well coached teams. The Explorers would capitalize in the second quarter with recovering a fumble in their own territory as the Blue Darters threatened. Columbus QB Mendoza would strike with a deep bomb down field to find Jose Leon who put the breaks on on the only Apopka defender deep to take it into the endzone. The Explorers would take a 10-3 lead into the dressing room at halftime.
Halftime would be extended with a 45-minute weather delay that would just add more drama to this occasion. In the 3rd quarter, Apopka would inch closer and closer as they elected to run the ball all night as well as QB sneaks. Hector Chavez was a force to reckon with on the Columbus defense who had at least 30 tackles to his name. Chavez was a big reason why the Explorers were able to hold the Blue Darter run. We would enter the final quarter of this dog fight with Columbus leading Apopka 10-3.
One problem the Explorers faced was the defense not being able to convert and put points on the board off of turnovers from the defense. It would hurt Columbus late in the game with Mendoza throwing an interception giving the Blue Darters the ball around midfield. Apopka would go on to score on that drive tying the game 10-10. The Columbus offense would go three and out giving the ball right back to Apopka with less than a minute in the contest. The Blue Darters set themselves up for a game winning field goal that would be blocked as time expired.
Columbus would win the coin toss but defer leaving Apopka to start with the ball at the beginning of the overtime period. The Explorer defense would hold its own once again minimizing the Blue Darters to a field goal to make it 13-10.
Sedrick Irvin would get a good run incline close to the goal line to start the overtime possession for the Explorers. They elected to go for another Irvin run on second down but would be read and blown up by the Apopka defense. The Explorer coaching staff then elected to use its only timeout of the overtime period. A field goal ties the game and sends the game to double overtime while a touchdown wins them the state title. What happened next would shock the fans and as well as the Apopka defense. The Columbus offense would run the Philly special with AJ Arellano passing the ball to a wide open Mendoza for the touchdown to capture the second state championship in school history.
The Columbus Explorers defeat the Apopka Blue Darters 16-13 in overtime.
Written by: Daniel Torres
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