Football Game Preview: Pine Knights vs. Gateway Charter Griffins

The Pine Knights will challenge the Gateway Charter Griffins at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Pine has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with nine straight defeats, while Gateway Charter will come in with five straight victories.

Pine's offense might be in the hot seat on Monday considering what happened against Somerset Academy - Canyons on Wednesday. They were beaten by the Cougars 53-0. While losing is never fun, the Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 386th, while the Cougars are ranked 44th).

Meanwhile, while Gateway Charter put up plenty of points on Monday, the same can't be said for East Lee County. The Griffins simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Jaguars 47-0. The contest marked the Griffins' most dominant win of the season.

Gateway Charter's win came from a few key players Pine will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Taylor Brock, who threw for 160 yards and four touchdowns while completing 75% of her passes. Those 160 passing yards gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Jazmyn Johnson, who gained 79 total yards and three touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Gateway Charter's defense and their five sacks. In that department, Ryan Macik was the leader with two. Johnson got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.

Gateway Charter's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-1. The home wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 28.7 points over those games. As for Pine, their loss dropped their record down to 0-9.