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The Dave Campbell’s Texas Football publication has been the eyes over Texas Football for decades, releasing content and analysis for football programs as small as the 1A division and even six-man teams. Part of their coverage includes several different rankings for the teams in each division as the season progresses. However, one poll spans the entirety of Texas, pitting football programs against each other regardless of size or division. One hundred teams are ranked by their general prestige and recent success during regular seasons as well as the UIL State Playoffs. The Columbus Cardinal football team has been as good as anybody the last few seasons, leading to the Cardinals finally breaking into the top 100 for the first time by taking the final spot on the list.
The Cards have been slowly climbing up the top 100 list for a while as they have inched closer to claiming their first state championship game appearance as well as their first title. They have never gotten closer than their most recent runs in the state tournament, losing to each of the past two champions in 2021 and in 2022 which helped them move up five spots to crack the top 100 list. Against Lorena in 2021, Columbus just did not have enough firepower on either end to keep up with a Leopards team that thoroughly outplayed the Cards throughout the game. Columbus should not lose many marks for that defeat however as Lorena proved to be clearly the best 3A team in football that year. They torched everyone in the playoffs with a 34-point average margin of victory in the postseason on the way to a state championship. The Cards had some further steps to take as their 62-13 defeat to the Leopards in the regional round was not how the Cards were hoping to finish their season.
It did not take long for the Cards to redeem themselves the next season in the UIL state playoffs after having one of their best postseason runs in history. The team improved greatly from one season to the next as the Cards went into the playoffs with just a single loss in the regular season. They got the chance to prove that their improvements were real, competing against Lorena for the second year in a row; this time in the first round. Despite opening the postseason with a difficult opponent, the Cards escaped on a game-winning field goal to kick off one of their deepest runs ever in the state tournament.
Columbus dominated each of their next few opponents after their round one victory until they reached a difficult game in the state quarterfinals, just a few more games until the championship game. The Cards matched up against the Franklin Lions who boasted a D1 committed athlete as a huge part of their offensive gameplan. The Cards competed well and had a chance to win the game late after a big-time score to take the lead. However, the Lions marched down the field and scored a touchdown with too little time left on the clock for Columbus to respond with a full drive of their own.
Franklin went on to win the state championship by a close margin in the final game, but the Cards will be anxious to return to the postseason and finally get over the hump against the best teams in football. Claiming their own spot as the best team in football with a state championship would go a long way toward vaulting Columbus up the list of Texas’ top programs.
