On Oct. 10, the Patriot Pioneers football team was set to face its toughest challenge of the season so far. The Pioneers faced one of their rivals, the Gainesville Cardinals, at home in a highly anticipated crosstown matchup. Last year, Patriot beat Gainesville 56-26 after a stellar performance on the ground from Jackson McCarter (‘25) who ran for 380 yards and five touchdowns as the Pioneers celebrated on Gainesville’s home turf. This year, however, the Cardinals believed it was their time to take over the crown of Linton Hall, especially with the return of their starting running back Koven Smith (‘25) who tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) prior to last year’s matchup.
Coming into week seven, Gainesville was ranked fourth in the NOVA Sports Media Team (NSMT) power rankings with a 5-0 record whereas Patriot was ninth at 4-1. It was clear that it would be an uphill battle for fans and students of Patriot as they hoped for an upset. However, to the players, Patriot felt like they were the stronger team, “we’ve built up our schedule to be ready for games like these, we’ve played too many strong teams to be scared of the moment” said senior defensive end Luca Dellafave (‘25).
Patriot and Gainesville’s student section hated each other as they chanted taunts towards one another consistently throughout the game. However, both were able to come to agreement on one main component of the game. In support of breast cancer awareness month, both stands were flooded with an array of pink shades as students, family, and fans came together in support to spread awareness.
(Josh Villaflor)
To start the game, Tyler Knutson (‘25) hit Diasian (Buddy) Noakes (‘25) on a 37 yard pass on the first play of the game, but the drive was stifled after a sack from Gainesville’s defense and Patriot punted. The Pioneer’s defense quickly responded on the first play of Gainesville’s drive as Mathieu Kanu (‘26) forced a fumble against Smith and Luke Roloff (‘25) recovered it. McCarter then scored on a one yard rushing touchdown. The Cardinals swiftly responded though after a 46 yard run from quarterback Colton Kilmer (‘25) topped off by a 22 yard touchdown pass from Kilmer to Grayson Eisenhower (‘26).
After another drive from each team where both came up with no points, the Pioneers had the ball again. Patriot was struggling so far on creating holes as Gainesville stacked the box to limit the Pioneers rushing attack. But this time, McCarter managed to find a crease. He sprinted up the middle for a 22 yard gain but in the process got stripped and fumbled the ball. Gainesville jumped on it and scored after a 44 yard drive that ended with a Kilmer one yard rushing touchdown. Patriot was down 7-14 heading into the second quarter and needed momentum as soon as possible.
As Patriot’s run game was struggling, Knutson stepped up to the plate to give the Pioneers the push they needed. On the following drive, Knutson was three for three on passes with a 38 yard pass to Trevor Keener (‘26) and a 28 yard touchdown pass to Colton Kershaw (‘25) over the outstretched hands of Gainesville’s safety Jayden Bell (‘25). Knutson’s pass tied up the game at 14-14 going into halftime.
After halftime, it was clear that the Pioneers offensive game plan was to run the ball. On the very first play by the Pioneers offense, McCarter ran up the middle for a 70 yard touchdown, set up by great blocking. McCarter then scored again on a 36 yard rushing touchdown and Knutson threw a 35 yard touchdown to Noakes to go on a 21-0 scoring run in the second half.
Grayson Eisenhower scored his second touchdown of the day after a pass from Kilmer with a minute left. However, it was too little too late as Knutson kneeled the clock out and the game ended 35-20.
The Pioneer offense struggled running the ball in the first half but due to second half adjustments, McCarter ended the game with 18 carries for 202 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground with one reception and 21 receiving yards as well. McCarter now has 1,141 yards on the season along with 21 touchdowns.
The Pioneers also spread the ball out through the passing game as Knutson was 8 for 13 for 196 passing yards and two touchdowns. The receiving game was led by Noakes who had three receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown as well as Keener who had three receptions for 72 yards. Kershaw also had a touchdown on his singular reception for 28 yards.
After the game, Patriot moved from ninth on the NSMT power rankings to eighth as Gainesville fell from fourth to ninth. The Pioneers moved to 5-1 on the year and are now 8-3 after beating Gainesville again in the first round of the VHSL 6A playoffs. They will face Battlefield on Nov. 22 at 7:00 p.m.
