Football Preview: Gainesville Cardinals vs. Patriot Pioneers
On Thursday Gainesville will have to hit the road after three straight games at home. They will venture away from home to face off against the Patriot Pioneers at 7:00 p.m. After both made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Thursday.
Gainesville's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed last Friday. They blew past Osbourn Park, posting an 80-0 win at home. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia football rankings (they are ranked 17th, while the Yellowjackets are ranked 303rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Koven Smith was his usual excellent self, rushing for 123 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries. Another player making a difference was Colton Kilmer, who threw for 65 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Gainesville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 252 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 176 rushing yards in six consecutive games dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Patriot). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Osbourn Park 63-6 on the road. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Pioneers had established a 56 point advantage.
Gainesville's victory was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-0. As for Patriot, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 4-1.
Gainesville was taken down by Patriot 56-26 when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Can Gainesville avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
