MIDDLEBURG - With a football field that looked more like the planet Mars than a grassy field to play a possible district championship game, Middleburg High put up its best psyche with two near-miss interceptions, two fumbles and a lone scoring bomb, but Columbia High eventually survived the mudfest to a 17-6 district 3-3S championship on Friday.

"You think about where the program has come from where it was three years ago to where we are now and I'm not happy with the loss, but happy about where the program is," said Middleburg coach Ryan Wolfe. "I've been on teams that had the tradition of winning and sometimes I have to step back and say wow this is year three and we just shook Columbia, shook Hawthorne, shook Bradford. Columbia just beat Bolles last week."

With neither team able to create any kind of ground game with the ankle-deep muck throughout the field, it was the passing game on both sides that made an impact; Columbia with a handful of acrobatic catches from wide receiver Camdon Frier (Florida State commit), and Middleburg with a long scoring bomb to Jarren Rozier for the Broncos lone touchdown.

"They just set up jump balls with their receivers," said Wolfe. "We talked about making them turn the ball over a bunch for us to win. We had our chances."

Middleburg nearly pulled off the upset with the help of stingy defense in the secondary despite the air assault of Columbia quarterback Xavier Collins, just a freshman, but not afraid to challenge the Bronco deep defense despite being chased throughout the contest by Bronco defensive linemen Tucker Cody, B.J. Carter and Luke Wheeler.

"We know our defense is very good and they showed out," said Wolfe. "Last year, we had an elite running back (Stater T.J. Lane, now at University of West Florida) and I think that has been the difference this year in our offense."

In two exchanges, Middleburg's secondary; Wain Sulph, Landon Nalepa and Trenton Robinson, without the aid of senior Errick Fryer, who was in street clothes after a one-game suspension on a controversial hit last week against Clay, nearly changed the game with what would have been possible pick-six interceptions both in Columbia's side of the field.

"We get those two; one goes to the house, and the game is completely different," said Wolfe. "We picked up two fumbles (Cody and linebacker Austin Cruce), but could not convert. In games like this, two or three turnovers are usually the difference."