Columbus uses Western turnovers to vault into 4M state semi

MIAMI — For the second consecutive season, the Western Wildcats lost their starting quarterback in the postseason.

But this time, Western hoped its defense’s stingy play of late and improved running game would be enough to offset the loss of senior Davi Belfort to an ankle injury.

For three quarters, it appeared as though the Wildcats would persevere thanks to a pair of interception returns for touchdowns which gave them a 13-3 lead over Miami Columbus.

That was until a flurry of Western turnovers unraveled things on Friday evening and led to Columbus scoring 28 fourth-quarter points to eliminate the Wildcats 31-13 in the Region

4-4M final at Tropical Park in Miami.

Columbus (11-2), the reigning Class 4M state champions, will next host Tampa Plant in a Class 4M state semifinal on Friday at Tropical Park.

A year after losing in the regional semifinals after then-starting quarterback Collin Hurst suffered a season-ending injury, Western (9-4) fell short of reaching its first ever state semifinal.

On Friday, Belfort and Hurst both watched from the Wildcats’ sideline with the former’s left leg in a protective boot.

They saw senior defensive backs Nathan Jean and Zyon Pressley each intercept Columbus starter Alberto Mendoza and return those picks for touchdowns.

But after the Explorers, the reigning Class 4M state champions, finally broke through on offense on a

2-yard touchdown run by Edward Bandy to cut Western’s lead to 13-10, things fell apart for Western.

Junior quarterback Koby Howard was sacked and stripped of the ball by Willis McGahee IV, allowing defensive back Jancent Wallace to return the fumble

58 yards for a touchdown that put the Explorers ahead for good with 7:05 left in the fourth.

Howard would proceed to throw three more interceptions, the first of which led to another Columbus rushing touchdown. The second was returned 60 yards for a score by junior Bryce Fitzgerald, who recorded three interceptions overall and recovered a fumble.

Western had not allowed more than 14 points during its six-game winning streak entering Friday’s game.

“You kinda feel for Western, we wouldn’t want to play a game like this without your starting quarterback,” Columbus coach Dave Dunn said about Western.