The Gateway Football Team’s Continuing Comeback

This year, the Gateway Gators’ football team is larger than ever, with a roster of 48 players. Although the post-pandemic football teams haven’t had lots of success, this year’s team started out the season with high hopes. Although that success may not show in the game against KIPP Academy, the Gators didn’t give up.

With a general notion that the football team is terrible among students and staff, many may not know or remember that we won the Colonial Conference Championship in 2018, and the football team hopes to return to that level of success with a new crop of kids and a shared work ethic to improve all players on the team.

On August 29, at 7 pm, the Gateway Gators’ football team kicked off their season with a home game against KIPP Academy. It was a hard-fought game with a few questionable penalty calls, but the game ultimately ended with a Gateway loss. Despite only giving up one offensive touchdown, the Gator’s offense couldn’t capitalize on their own excellent defense, getting shut out and losing 16-0. 

One week later, the Gators headed to Haddon Township for their next game. It was another hard-fought game, where everyone put their bodies on the line. Unfortunately, starting quarterback and team co-captain, senior Aiden Bender, tore the ACL in his left knee in the second quarter, keeping him on the sidelines for the rest of the game. It was a tough injury not just on him, as the rest of the team missed his presence on the field.

However, in that same quarter, junior D.J. Binck delivered a 59-yard strike to Jacob Finger for the first Gateway touchdown of the season. Despite their first touchdown, the Gators gave up a touchdown on special teams, which tied the game at a score of 6 to 6. Then with only 30 seconds left in the game, Haddon Township ran it for a touchdown. A last-second “Hail Mary” pass was incomplete, and the Gators suffered a 7-13 loss.

Two years ago, Gateway hired Andrew Daley as the new head football coach in hopes of turning the program around. He introduced a great culture to the program, even if that culture hasn’t exactly translated into a ton of on-field success. For example, he introduced a community service day for the football team, where members of the football team would do some community service for Gateway and the surrounding area.

The biggest example of coach Daley’s culture translating into on field success was Game 3 of the Gator’s season, where they played against Wildwood. Because senior QB Aiden Bender cannot play for the rest of the season due to his knee injury, the Gators had a new starting QB – sophomore Gianni Pembroke. The Gators got the ball first and drove down the field for a touchdown, and then immediately got an interception on Wildwood’s first drive of the night.

Their domination continued in the first half, with the score being 28 to 0 at halftime. Wildwood came back strong in the second half, scoring 3 touchdowns to cut the score to 35 to 20. However, an interception by senior co-captain Dylan Cruet with about 6 minutes left and a touchdown a few minutes later by Aiden Barbato, put the game away, and the Gator’s got their first win of the season, 42 to 20. Aiden Barbato was also successful on all 6 (yes 6) extra point attempts in this game, which might be a Gateway record!

Hopefully, a win like this sparks a turnaround for the Gators’ season as now all of their pieces are working together in sync. If they play up to their potential, they have a real shot at making the playoffs. Led by Coach Daley, the Gateway Gators football team has very high hopes and a shot at a promising season and possibly a playoff bid. Go Gators!