HOUSTON — The Columbus High School football team is heading to AT&T Stadium for a shot at the 3A UIL state championship as they defeated Edna High School in blowout fashion Dec. 12 at Rice University Stadium in Houston by a final score of 49-6.
The Cardinals had victory on their mind from the very start as this game was visibly out of reach for Edna as early as the end of the first quarter. Columbus put the offensive attack on for the entire game with the pass and run game, so much so that they were able to rest their starters in the fourth quarter.
“We prepared a long time for this,” said Columbus head football coach Matt Schobel.
“The day after the last game last season, we talked about being grittier and being tougher. Our kids have responded every time they’ve been asked to or had to. We came out and played well in the first half. Played pretty clean in the first half. Our defense was tremendous tonight. Hats off to Edna. They’ve got a lot of really good players over there and have a great program. Tonight’s about our kids. Couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Cardinals senior quarterback Adam Schobel threw for three touchdowns on the night and has been a leader on this team at the quarterback position ever since his freshman year.
“We have great coaches and they push us to be better every day,” Adam Schobel said. “It’s not just me. It’s so many seniors that stepped up and helped us.
This one’s amazing. We’re gonna celebrate this one. We’ve been working for this one a long time, but we have one more. We gotta have a great week of practice.
This is a big one. This is the one we worked so hard for.”
Columbus had a 28-0 lead at the end of the first quarter on two rushing touchdowns from running back Grayson Rigdon, one for 10 yards and one for one yard, then two receiving touchdowns from Cooper Osborne and Cam-don Pitchford. Osborne's was for 15 yards and Pitchford's was for five yards. The Cardinals continued their onslaught in the second quarter with a 70-yard run from Rigdon at the 8:28 mark, then another touchdown from Rigdon a few minutes later for four yards to make it 42-0.
Edna scored their only points of the outing with 1:30 to go on a touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone, which made for a 42-6 advantage for Columbus at halftime.
The Cardinals scored again within the first couple minutes of the third quarter for their final points of the game, then rested their starters in the fourth quarter to cruise to a 49-6 win.
Columbus will play Malakoff High School for the state championship title today, Thursday, Dec.
19 at 7 p.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
