Football Game Preview: Mater Academy Charter Lions vs. Keys Gate Knights

The Mater Academy Charter Lions are taking a road trip to take on the Keys Gate Knights at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Mater Academy Charter has three straight wins, Keys Gate has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Mater Academy Charter made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Somerset Academy South Homestead, but they still couldn't quite topple them. Mater Academy Charter's defense stepped up to hand Somerset Academy South Homestead a 20-0 shutout on Tuesday. Given the Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 100th, while the Hurricanes are ranked 235th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Tuesday just wasn't the day for Keys Gate's offense. They took a blow against Sports Leadership & Management on Tuesday, falling 34-0.

Mater Academy Charter pushed their record up to 7-2 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 5.1 points on average over those games. As for Keys Gate, their loss dropped their record down to 3-5.

Mater Academy Charter didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Keys Gate in their previous matchup back in April of 2023, but they still walked away with a 19-13 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Mater Academy Charter since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.