Chandler Cox sat on the Citrus Bowl turf after the game clock struck zero with tears streaming down his face.
The Apopka senior fullback kept looking up at the final score on the scoreboard – Blue Darters 30, Miami Columbus 23. Apopka is your 2014 Class 8A state champions.
“To win a state title, I still can’t believe it,” Cox said. “I’ve got to keep looking up there. Is this true? Just like in 2012, I kept doing the same thing.”
It was hard to believe considering Apopka became the first Class 8A school to lose four games in the regular season to win a state title. And it was hard for the Blue Darters to immediately comprehend the final score since they had to sweat out the final seconds as Columbus did its best to try and send the game to overtime.
But it was Apopka’s old-school, single-wing approach that won out. Cox finished with 106 rushing yards and one touchdown and sophomore running back DeShawn Massey led the team with 108 yards and two touchdowns.
“Great football players, great belief in what we do,” Apopka head coach Rick Darlington said. “The coaching staff did a great job. It just doesn’t seem real. …The clock finally ran out.”
Early on in the game, it appeared Apopka would easily lock up the football program’s second state championship in three years. Fueled by the legs of Massey, the Blue Darters jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead.
After Apopka’s defense stopped Columbus on fourth-and-1, Massey capped off a 49-yard scoring drive with a three-yard touchdown run for their first score.
Massey’s second score, with 1:53 remaining in the first quarter, was a 14-yarder highlighted by the sophomore’s leap into the end zone.
Columbus finally responded in the second quarter when quarterback Tucker Beirne connected with Jerron Rollins for an 11-yard touchdown. Beirne helped the Explorers capitalize on an Apopka turnover just before the end of the first half with an eight-play,4:21 scoring drive that resulted in a Joseph Tolgyesi 33-yard field to cut the Blue Darters lead to five.
After playing the role of bystander for a lot of the second quarter, Apopka’s offense opened the third quarter with a clock-chewing scoring drive. Cox’s flip into the end zone capped off a 12-play, 62-yard, 6:04 drive that was followed by a two-point conversion for a 22-9 Apopka lead.
Columbus answered near the end of the third with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Beirne to Austin Maloney to pull the Explorers within six. Cox extended the
Blue Darters lead to 14 with a 22-yard touchdown pass to James Crider, followed by Demetri Burch’s two-point conversion run.
Aided by a personal foul and back-to-back pass interference penalties against Apopka, Columbus again pulled within one score when Beirne (294 passing yards, three touchdowns) hit Ivan Smith for a 10-yard touchdown. Then the Explorers’ defense forced the Blue Darters to punt for the first time in the game with5:08 remaining.
Columbus had two possessions to try and tie the game, including a series in the final 49 seconds. But Apopka’s defense locked down and closed out the game, allowing the celebration to begin.
It was a much different setting from last year when Apopka was upset in the 8A title game by Miami South Dade. This time, however, the tears that flowed were tears of joy.
“I just want to soak it all in,” Cox said. “It’s my last time out here, my last time wearing this jersey. I just laid on the ground. I’m so happy. It’s such a true blessing.”