Key Highlights
- 10 Miami in the national title game.
- One of the central figures in the matchup isn't a specific player or a coach, but a high school that sits just 21 miles south of Hard Rock Stadium:Christopher Columbus High School. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLocated in the Westchester suburb of Miami, the small, all-boys Catholic school has built a formidable reputation both academically and athletically. Founded in 1958, the school produced Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, Indiana starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and several other NFL, Major League Baseball, and NBA players. Mendoza’s father, Fernando Mendoza IV, played at Columbus alongside Cristobal, as did Hurricanes assistant head coach and offensive line coach Alex Mirabal.
- All three suited up together for teh Explorers in the late 1980s;The Sporting News spoke with longtime Columbus fixtures to learn how the private school helped shape some of the national title game’s most-important figures, including the fiery Miami coach whose fiery personality seems to be as enduring as his legacy at the high school. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“When [Cristobal] was a player here as an offensive lineman, everybody liked him until practice started,” John Lynskey, Columbus’ director of alumni affairs and a 1978 alumnus, told The Sporting News.
- “Then the defensive guys hated him, because Mario never heard the whistle, never stopped.
- We had some pretty good fights involving Mario and the defense.