It's All About Family For Rivals Belen And Columbus
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BY J.T. WILCOX | Senior Writer
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – One of the best aspects of sports is the rivalries.
Lakers and Celtics.
Red Sox and Yankees.
Columbus and Belen.
Or is it Belen and Columbus?
Whichever one you say first, it resonates the same.
These two all-male Catholic schools located in Southwest Miami-Dade County make up what is easily the best high school football rivalry in the state of Florida – perhaps one of the best in the country.
But the relationship between these two programs goes far deeper than the 48 minutes played on the football field – with Friday's contest being a 21-7 win for Columbus played in front of nearly 10,000 fans at Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium – it's about family, friends, food, and tradition.
For the past decade, the schools have met on the gridiron. The first four were preseason classics while the last six have been regular season matchups.
Though the Explorers, who finished the 2014 season as Class 8A state runners up and are ranked in the top five statewide in their class this season, have come out on top in each of the games, the intensity of the match up remains the same.
"Every year Belen thinks it's going to win," said Patrick Flood, a native Bostonian whose son Jack played football for and graduated from Belen Jesuit in 2014. "This is the best rivalry in South Florida – no question. There's great energy, great passion…it's more than football."
Even though Flood's son wasn't playing, he was right in the middle of Belen's pregame tailgate celebration.
"We just need some luck. It's about time Belen won one. We're ready to storm the field and go crazy. It might not be this year, but it's going to happen – and I'll be here when it does," Flood said.
Pregame Party
Upon arrival, the smell of barbequed meat wafted through the air.
Large tents with tables and chairs and music blaring from open car doors was the scene as hundreds of fans walked around in anticipation of their favorite game of the year.
This year was Belen's turn to have the outside tailgate area.
The Wolverines procured a large white tent that served as the central hub for the Belen Jesuit supporters to congregate and eat. Various businesses, likely with ties to Belen alumni, hung banners and fans walked around under the tent sampling food from various food stations.
And this wasn't your typical hot dogs and burgers tailgate.
Pulled pork, homemade Cuban fritas, and Spanish media noches were just some of the fares to sample.
One fan told me someone was grilling a whole pig – a delicious Hispanic culture staple – but I wasn't able to find their tent.
I ran into Belen alumnus Thomas Pla, class of 2000, under the main tent. He was doling out pulled pork sandwiches.
"We're not going to beat [Columbus] on the field, so we beat them in the tailgate," Pla joked. "Belen is a family. We have alumni here from the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's giving out food to our alumni and families. It's all about the unity here."
Before I left Belen's tent, I got a full breakdown of why Belen was going to finally upend Columbus from an unlikely source.
"If we win it's because we have four first string cornerbacks, three first string defensive ends and two division-I kickers," said Father Frank Permuy, a Belen alum.
"And we have three chaplains," Permuy laughed.
Family Affair
Walking into the stadium, I made my way into the stadium auxiliary room that had become the Explorers' headquarters.
Columbus' cheerleaders performed and fans walked around sharing food and laughs.
After I got a quick history lesson on Columbus football from a pair of grads from the class of 1989, I spoke with Ari Velasco, a 1982 Explorers alum.
"Both schools are excellent," Velasco said. "I remember back when I was in school, we wanted to kill each other. It's not really like that anymore. It's friendlier now. The families come out and we just have a great time with one another. It's fantastic."
"I'm very happy today because I'm representing three generations of Explorers," Velasco said.
The former students get a big kick out of the game, what about the current students?
Columbus has it's "Columbus Crazies", a group of students who jump, cheer and chant during games. Belen had a similar section of students, many of whom were panted in the school's maize and blue colors.
Jorge Cortes, a Columbus student who's set to graduate in 2018, could only think of one word to describe the week leading up to the Belen game.
"Chaotic," Cortes said. "Everyone is excited, that's all anyone can talk about all week. It's awesome."
Still Big Brother
On the field, things went "awesomely" for Columbus.
Ranked No. 4 in the latest SFHSSports Top 20 Poll, the Explorers continued to play the role of "big brother" against the Wolverines.
Columbus jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter after running back Chris Henderson dashed 74 yards down the field for a score.
The Explorers tacked on another touchdown in the third quarter – a scoring drive capped off by a 2-yard Yael Gomez run – and took a 21-0 lead into the final quarter.
Henderson finished with a game-high 90 rushing yards on five carries; Darren Davis Jr. carried the ball 11 times for 42 yards and Jerron Rollins caught three passes for 57 yards for Columbus.
The Wolverines could only muster 95 yards of total offense and had the same amount of first downs – seven – as it did punts.
Belen was able to get on the board late in the fourth, a 3-yard touchdown pass from Daniel Hondal to Richard Perez that was set up by a Columbus fumble deep in its own territory.
"This is a pitfall game for us," Columbus coach Chris Merritt said. "We're in a deal where a lot of times the rankings and all that stuff is out the window. It's a rival game and anything can happen in rival games."
For more stories like this and information on high school sports in South Florida, visit www.SFHighSchoolSports.com
