COLUMBIA - Montae Baldwin seemed to bounce off the defenders as he weaved his way through traffic before escaping into open grass for an 81-yard touchdown run in Friday's Division II-A state semifinals in the TSSAA football playoffs.
That fourth-quarter score put the stamp on Columbia Academy's 47-13 rout of DCA, securing the program's first BlueCross Bowl championship game berth.
Baldwin finished with 207 yards and two touchdowns, while Harrison Brownlee added 103 yards from scrimmage and a TD.
The Bulldogs (10-3) face No. 1 Nashville Christian (11-1) in the DII-A state championship game at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga at 3 p.m. (ET) on Dec. 5. Nashville Christian beat Columbia Academy, 45-7, in the regular season.
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"It's obviously one step closer to the goal," Brownlee said. "One game away. For it to be the first time in school history is huge. It's a really good feeling."
With the win Columbia Academy completed the season sweep of DCA (10-3), having beaten the Wildcats 28-7 in Week 5 of the TSSAA football regular season.
Despite that, the Bulldogs still feel they've been underappreciated this season.
"We have zero Mr. Football candidates," Brownlee said. "We played two Mr. Football candidates who are really good players, but we feel like we do not have the respect we deserve. Which is okay, we would almost rather it be like that. It absolutely fuels us, 100%."
DCA's offense -- led by Mr. Football semifinalist Mitchell Carey at quarterback -- has been electric all season, averaging over 32 points per game, but the Bulldogs defense managed to hold the Wildcats to 20 total points over two games this season.
In their TSSAA football playoff matchup, Columbia Academy collected five interceptions, three of which came from Jackson Usherwood, including an interception returned for a TD.
"It was really preached this week, 'It's on us,'" Usherwood said. "They're going to come out firing so it was, I'm not going to say pressure, but it's expected, 'Hey this is your chance, go ball out. Go do something about it.'"
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Last season the Bulldogs also reached the semifinals, but fell to eventual state champions, MTCS.
That run not only provided experience to a Bulldog roster that returned plenty of talent from last season, it provided additional determination headed into TSSAA football playoffs.
"Our whole goal was to get to state," Baldwin said. "But last year, we came right here and came up short. We don't want to come up short again ...that was so much motivation."
Harrison Campbell covers high school sports and more for The Daily Herald. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.