Charlotte Catholic delivers memorable comeback to capture school’s 6th state title

The sixth state high school football championship that Charlotte Catholic won Saturday was probably one of its most memorable.

The Cougars (15-1) had to dig deep Saturday at Kenan Stadium. They had to reach down and find the guts to rally against a Jacksonville team that was simply outplaying them for much of Catholic’s 17-14 title win.

In the first half, Jacksonville had more than twice the total yards that Catholic produced, and the Cougars faced a double whammy: Their vaunted run game was being stopped and their defense, which had been almost impenetrable all season, was struggling to deal with a fast Cardinals team that consistently got outside for big plays and seemed to constantly be threatening.

But down 14-10 at halftime, Catholic’s players came into the locker room and found some resolve. The Cougars have 26 seniors who have been, now, to three state championship games and four regional finals. They didn’t panic.

“No one was freaking out,” said championship MVP Brian Jacobs. “Coach said, ‘We’re good.’ He said we didn’t play our best half of football. But we were going to go out there and give it our all and all and play with a lot of heart.”

Sure enough, Catholic came out, stuffed Jacksonville and blocked the Cardinals’ punt. Then, the Cougars started running right - every time - pounding the ball the way they had done during five previous state championship runs. But just when Catholic was at the 1 and about to score, and about the really turn the tide, the Cougars fumbled.

Worse, after stopping Jacksonville and forcing a punt, a bad snap forced Jacksonville quarterback Justyn Benton to pick up the ball and scramble out of the end zone. First down.

Maybe this wasn’t Catholic’s day.

“There was no sense of panic,” Cougars coach Mike Brodowicz said. “Those guys believe in each other. My offensive lineman just said, ‘Coach, get us the ball back one more time.’”

Sure enough, Catholic stopped Jacksonville’s next two possessions and finally got the ball at its 29, still down 14-10, and began a fourth- quarter drive Cougars fans will talk about forever.

On third-and-9 at the Catholic 48, quarterback Chris Walton - whose brother John was also a state champion QB at Catholic - threw a first-down pass that was called back for penalty. Faced with third-and-14, game basically on the line, he called a play named “Colorado,” and found a streaking Jacobs across the middle for a 33-yard gain.

Two plays later, he hit Michael Neel up the middle for a 22-yard championship-winner. And he knew it was good.

“Right when I turned and faked (the handoff),” Walton said, “I saw the linebackers come up and I knew Michael would catch it and score.”

This season began with 18 starters back from a 2017 state champion and Brodowicz predicting another state title. There was a shut-out loss to Charlotte Christian to start the season, and some fits and starts with the offense early on, but 2018 ended just the way Brodowicz always thought it would: with a ring.

And this year, the Cougars really had to earn it.

“This group of seniors is very special to me,” Brodowicz said. “They’ve been with me through three state championship runs. They do everything I ask them to do. They’re good in the classroom and a lot of them are going on to play at the next level. It’s a good group and a special time.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2018 at 7:06 PM.