Photo by Brian McLean
BY NOLAN RUTH
X – @RealNolanRuth
ARLINGTON— In Texas, high school football is not just a state tradition, but oftentimes a family tradition as well. That remains the case for the Schobel family in Columbus as head coach Matt Schobel led his Cardinals team to its first state championship with the help of his son Adam and nephew John, who both won Offensive and Defensive MVP respectively. Matt’s brother (John’s father) Aaron is also on the coaching staff.
“That’s easily my favorite victory I’ve been a part of at any level,” Matt Schobel said in his postgame press conference. “Obviously it’s special to have my family and this whole team, I’ve been with them ever since they entered high school and they’ve always done what we’ve asked them to do. Coming up short in previous years – that’s life and that’s athletics, but to see it work out for them, their personal goals and team goals is really cool.”
Adam, completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 261 yards and two touchdowns, and added 37 yards on 11 carries and another score. On the other side of the ball, John, a had a career day, tying the 3A state championship record with three sacks on the night on top of ten total tackles. Both have signed to play their college careers at TCU, where both of their fathers played.
Columbus dominated from start to finish, cruising to a 48-14 victory over the previous 3A Division I state champion Malakoff Tigers.
The Tigers were on a 31 game win streak coming into the game, but it was clear early on that they were no match for the Cardinals.
Former six-man standout Grayson Rigdon started the scoring on the opening drive with a touchdown run in his fourth state championship game. Rigdon had previously won with Strawn in his freshman year, and Benjamin in his sophomore and junior years, earning Offensive MVP honors in each championship game.
He finished his night with 119 yards on 18 carries and four touchdowns.
Malakoff responded to the initial score with its own scoring drive that was capped off with a four yard touchdown run by Jerrion Hall to tie the game at seven. The Tigers could not do much more offensively from there.
Their only two scores came on the first and last drives of the game. Every drive in between totaled just 50 yards.
On the other side, Columbus scored on seven out of its eight drives in the game. Rigdon scored twice in the first quarter. Schobel got his first on the final play of the first quarter when he connected with Braylon Fisher from 32 yards out to make it 21-7 after one quarter.
The second quarter was very similar as Schobel ran for one from two yards out, and Rigdon got another from 13 yards out. Rigdon finished off his night in the third quarter from two yards out to make the score 41-7 going into the fourth quarter.
To open up the fourth quarter, Schobel connected with Camdon Pitchford to get the score up to 48-7. Finally, Malakoff salvaged some pride and found the end zone on a three yard run by Jason Tennyson. From there the Cardinals ran out the clock and solidified their first ever state championship.
