Backup quarterback helps Gateway rally for victory over Franklin Regional

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, September 19, 2025 | 11:21 PM

Gateway coach Don Holl doesn’t quite understand how his Gators football team is doing it, but he’s not about to question the process of back-to-back wins without the team’s star quarterback.

With freshman Mayson Mitchell filling in for injured starter Elvis Koutsakis Jr., Gateway continued to rally Friday night from an 0-3 start.

A week after leading Gateway to a three-point victory over Kiski Area, Mitchell threw four touchdown passes to power the Gators to a come-from-behind, 33-28 Big East Conference victory over Franklin Regional in a battle of neighboring WPIAL Class 5A rivals.

He threw three scoring passes against Kiski Area in a 34-31 victory.

“Obviously, he’s doing a great job with a lot of stuff,” Holl said.

Mitchell, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 313 yards, connected with Shawn Moorefield twice on scoring passes of 68 and 11 yards.

He added a 62-yarder to Jayden Stammer and an 18-yarder to Nazir Diggs during a wild 20-point fourth quarter uprising that saw Gateway (2-3, 2-0) erase a 21-13 deficit in part by turning a pair of fumble recoveries into scores during a span of 1 minute, 3 seconds.

Mitchell took over the offense when Koutsakis suffered a broken foot Aug. 29 against Class 6A No. 2 North Allegheny and has led Gateway to a 2-1 record.

“We had to make a decision when Elvis went down for the year,” Holl said. “Mayson Mitchell did all the things that you ask a guy to do in the summer. He put in the work, takes care of his body, watches film … he was doing that when he wasn’t starting.”

Mitchell’s latest heroics helped Gateway stun host Franklin Regional, which appeared to be in control until the Gators erupted in the fourth quarter.

He found Stammer wide open down the middle on the second play of the fourth for the 62-yard score to pull Gateway within 21-19.

Franklin Regional (0-5, 0-2) fumbled away the ball on successive possessions, leading to Gateway’s final two touchdowns.

Mitchell found Moorefield on a short pass leading to an 11-yard score that put the Gators in front for good, 27-21, with 7:10 left after Franklin Regional’s first miscue.

His 18-yard pass to Diggs following another Franklin Regional fumble stretched the lead to 33-21 just over a minute later.

“Two fumbles is all it was,” Franklin Regional coach Lance Getsy said. “Two short fields. Two scores.”

Following a 13-7 loss at Latrobe in the previous week, Franklin Regional appeared as though it might get its first success. But mistakes did in the Panthers, Getsy said.

“We played better offensively tonight,” he said. “Last week, we played better defensively and not offensively. We’re just not putting it together, and it’s on me to get it done.”

Dominick Devola threw a pair of touchdown passes for Franklin Regional, which lost its sixth consecutive game dating to last season’s WPIAL playoffs.

Gateway scored on its opening drive, Julian Dancear capping a 77-yard march with a 1-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 Gators lead.

Franklin Regional pulled even just before halftime when Tyrone Leonard caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Devola, making it 7-7 with under a minute to go.

The Panthers finally found the end zone after failing to do so on their previous possession when penalties killed a drive that reached the Gateway 9.

They squandered another scoring opportunity in the first quarter, advancing to the Gateway 10 before Dominic Mascara’s 27-yard field goal attempt was blocked and Carlos Diggs returned the ball to the Gateway 39 for the Gators.

The teams went into halftime deadlocked before Franklin Regional went up 14-7 in the third quarter on Amauri Jones-Lane’s 1-yard touchdown run after the Panthers capitalized on a bad snap on a Gateway punt attempt on fourth down.

Mitchell’s 68-yard touchdown pass to Moorefield cut the Franklin Regional lead to 14-13, but the Panthers got it back on Jet Taylor’s 7-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the third to take a 21-13 lead.

Mitchell narrowly missed a fifth touchdown pass when Tyree Gowder got open in the middle but couldn’t handle a pass thrown slightly behind him on a third-quarter play down the middle.

Moorefield wound up with eight catches for 174 yards, and Stammer caught three passes for 102 yards for Gateway.

Devola finished the night 13 for 18 for 173 yards passing, including a 23-yard scoring pass to Austin McClure with 4:20 left that got Franklin Regional within five points before Gateway ran out the clock.

“The good part is we won the game,” Holl said. “On paper right now, I’m not too crazy. But we can’t be tied for anything but the section lead. We have another section game next week (at home against Armstrong), and there’s a lot of work to do.”

Tags: Franklin Regional, Gateway