The Miami Hurricanes are now one win away from clinching the top prize in a matchup that’s got the whole city talking and a local high school paying tribute to alumni in both teams set to face off in a week.
The hometown team versus the hometown kid is the talk of the town, and Christopher Columbus High School in Southwest Miami-Dade has ties to not just the Canes, but the Indiana Hoosiers, the team squaring off against the U.
7News cameras on Monday captured a banner above the school’s football field saying “School United.” It includes five players and two coaches that will play in the Jan. 19 game.
The school pride was on display as soon as students and faculty enter the gates. Some students threw up the U, Monday morning, while others root for alumnus Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at Indiana University, graduated from Columbus along with his brother and three UM players, as well as Canes head coach Mario Cristobal.
Mendoza’s former teachers and coaches are beyond proud that he not only won the prestigious Heisman Award, but will now play for the national title in his own backyard.
“I’m just hoping for a good game. You know, it’s – I have allegiances obviously on both sides, I’ve been friends with Coach [Alex] Mirabal and Coach Cristobal since 1998, and then I coached all five players in the game,” said Columbus football coach Dave Dunn. “I think having seven people represent your school playing in the national championship game in your own backyard is unprecedented.”
Mendoza’s ties to UM’s football coach also run deep, as Cristobal and Mendoza’s father were teammates at Columbus back in the 1980s. Photos capture them when they were on the team together around 1987.
Cristobal went on to play college football at Miami and is now coaching his alma mater, while Mendoza Sr. raised two Indiana football players.
Students at Columbus High are beyond excited to see this matchup.
“Everybody’s been talking about, everybody’s excited, you know, people are rooting for different teams, but at the same time, it all comes back together, knowing that it’s a bunch of Columbus people that are coming back together to play one big football game,” said Samuel Barreiro, a Columbus student. “I played with most of those guys, and it’s just, you know, most of those guys have given me advice, they’ve mentored me, they’ve helped me really become the player I am today, and you know, it makes me proud to see my own friends, that I can can even them that, and now they’re playing on one of the biggest college football games ever.”
“I’m 50/50 on who’s gonna win, because Columbus is on both sides,” said Khamari Marcellus, a Columbus football player.
“I think the U’s gonna win on Monday, I’m going U all day, but it’s just cool having, like, guys, we’re just really proud; it’s, like I said, it’s a brotherhood,” said Lazaro Medina, another Columbus football player. ” “At the end of the day, one of our brothers are coming out victorious, so that’s how it matters to me.”
“After the game, they’ll kinda find each other, get a picture and pose with the see, it’s pretty heartwarming, it really is,” said Dunn.
This united school community said that no matter which team wins on Monday, they’ve already won.