By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

Celebration and Gateway look to end losing skids this week. The Panthers get their chance tonight, while the Storm try to have a happy homecoming night.

Gateway will board a bus for Volusia County this afternoon to take on Pierson Taylor at 7:30 p.m. The Panthers (1-4) losing skid hit four last week in a 49-6 loss to unbeaten Freedom (5-0).

“Those guys threw the ball on us, and we’ve got three sophomores and a freshman starting in the secondary,” GHS Coach Marlin Roberts said. “We’re just trying to keep improving through our youth.”

The Panthers scored their first offensive touchdown in three games when quarterback Roger Allen hit Zack Smith on a 30-yard touchdown pass.

“We drove the ball 80 yards to get that, and we had to do it twice,” Roberts said. “We threw a short touchdown pass to our tight end who’s playing football for the first time, and he’s all excited and the bench is loving it, then two minutes later the refs said we had an illegal formation and they backed us up. I about lost it.”

Taylor is 3-3 after a loss to Interlachen last week, but the Panthers will, for one of the few times all season, have a size advantage.

“We need a game like this, to get our offense back on track,” Roberts said. “They have about 22 kids, but two of them, a running back and a linebacker, are two who can make a difference. If the kids walk in there thinking it’s a win, we could walk out with our tails between our legs. This is a big game for us, we need the confidence boost.”

Celebration (2-4) hopes to claim its first-ever homecoming victory against winless Lake Nona (0-6) in a 3A District 9 game Friday at 7 p.m.

“First homecoming, first district win, first lots of things,” CHS Coach Ben Aarestad said. “We have a lot to play for.”

Sophomore quarterback William Santry debuted in place of senior Miguel Torres-Bruno, who broke his collarbone two weeks ago against Auburndale, and went 9-for-16 for 128 yards in a 19-0 loss to Lakeland Tenoroc.

“He did a good job, he looked comfortable,” Aarestad said. “We just couldn’t run the ball. Our offensive line took a couple of plays off. If you told me before the game we’d have 128 passing, the way we’ve been running the ball, I’d tell you we’d win.

“The kids were fighting, but they were let down a little losing to Auburndale and having Miguel go down. We win that and we’d be 3-3 and have a district win and be having the best season the school’s seen. Sadly, it’s taken about a game to move on.”

Mobile quarterback Kevin Sousa, who has orally committed to Michigan, highlights the Lions attack. He picked apart the Storm in a 34-14 win last year.

Aarestad said Tenoroc’s quarterback was a similar-style athlete, and the Storm benefit from playing him and other high-octane quarterbacks.

“Tenoroc’s guy beat us with his legs on two or three plays that made the difference,” he said. “Lake Wales’ kid is a better thrower. We can compete, but we have to run the ball to be good, and it starts with our offensive line.”