The Estero Wildcats will challenge the Island Coast Gators at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Estero will be strutting in after a win while Island Coast will be coming in after a loss.
Estero's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They blew past Mariner 28-0. Considering the Wildcats have won five contests by more than 19 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Nathan Watters
| 08/29/25 vs Aubrey Rogers | 3 |
| 10/17/25 @ Mariner | 2 |
| 09/05/25 vs East Lee County | 2 |
| 10/10/25 @ Lemon Bay | 1 |
| 09/19/25 vs Cape Coral | 1 |
Estero's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Nathan Watters led the charge by rushing for 55 yards and a pair of scores. Watters also punched in two rushing touchdowns, which is notable because the Wildcats are undefeated when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns, but 2-3 otherwise. Kegan Kreuscher did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 80 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, Island Coast was not able to break out of their rough patch last Friday as the team picked up their eighth straight defeat. They were outmatched by Cypress Lake and fell 51-7. While losing is never fun, the Gators can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 485th, while the Panthers are ranked 198th).
The victory made it two in a row for Estero and bumps their season record up to 5-3. Those wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 35.0 points over those games. As for Island Coast, their loss dropped their record down to 0-8.
Estero was able to grind out a solid victory over Island Coast in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, winning 14-6. Will the Wildcats repeat their success, or do the Gators have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
