Heading into Thursday’s season finale with the Storm, Gateway coach Marlin Roberts talked about the importance of getting a win and finishing on a high note. He and the Panthers got their wish as the Panthers dominated on both sides of the ball for a 33-15 win over Celebration.
Aristotle Span Jr.’s three touchdown passes and another rushing score helped push the Panthers to 5-5 and give them their first non-losing season since 2018.
“After a winless 2023, we started to turn the corner a little last year,” Roberts said. “I felt we let a couple of games get away from us early this season, so I really felt we needed to win this last one, finish at .500 to keep the momentum going.”
The game was close for a half, with Gateway drawing first blood when Honor Kim raced 44 yards on Gateway’s first offensive play. Four plays later, Aristotle Span Jr. found tight end Dory Thimote in the back of the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Celebration (1-9) tied it on its next possession. The Storm started its drive on the plus-side of the field after a nifty 34-yard kickoff return. Landon Yaw completed passes of 16 yards to Cameron McCants and 21 yards Moise Joseph to set the Storm up on the Panthers 1. Three plays later, Kaseem Shelley scored to knot the game at 7.
Late in the half, after Gateway made a fourth-down stop near midfield, Nydrell Thigpen ripped off a 15-yard run and then caught a 35-yard pass from Span to the 5. After a timeout, Span hit Thimote for a touchdown with three seconds left.
The Panthers took the second-half kickoff and marched 65 yards on seven plays to extend the lead to 21-7. Kim’s 23-yard run was a key play in setting up Span’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Thigpen.
Gateway needed just two minutes to score again. A Yaw lateral went wide of its mark and the Panthers recovered at 21. Thigpen ripped off runs of 12 and 7 yards and Span called his own number from one yard out to make it 27-7.
The contest stayed that way until a bizarre sequence of events saw two touchdowns in the final eight seconds. Working against the Panther reserves, Yaw drove Celebration the length of the field and a Shelley touchdown run and two-point conversion made it 27-15. The Storm recovered and on-sides kick, but a wayward snap was recovered by Thimote and returned 56 yards for a touchdown.
Thigpen rushed for 103 yards and caught three passes for 60 yards, and Kim rushed 74 yards on eight carries.
“We knew they (Celebration) would be keying on Nydrell so we wanted to get Honor involved early.” Roberts said. “He has really turned into another weapon for us.”
Over his last three games, Kim has averaged more than seven yards a carry; while Thigpen pushed his season rushing total to 1,200 yards in posting his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game.
