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Look: Columbus defeats Mandarin for Florida 4M state football championship

Aleberto Mendoza leads the way as the Explorers unleash a power running game to win their second straight state crown
Gary Adornato|
Look: Columbus defeats Mandarin for Florida 4M state football championship
Look: Columbus defeats Mandarin for Florida 4M state football championship

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Columbus threw a bit of a curveball at Mandarin in Friday's FHSAA 4M football state championship game, as it unleashed quarterback Alberto Mendoza in the running game as he took the ball and ran with it, literally.

Mendoza ran 20 times for 141-yards in leading his team to a 38-19 win. It led the way to Columbus' second straight state title and their third overall. You can read more about the game at the link below, but take some time first to view dozens amazing images, from the contest, from SBLive photograph Matt Christopher.

Columbus runs past Mandarin for FHSAA 4M state football championship

(All photos by Matt Christopher for SBLive Sports)

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Gary Adornato
GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.

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