SW FL Spring Football: Gateway makes debut with new coach Chris Strykowski
A roundup and what we learned watching Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples area teams during the 2026 spring high school football season.
A roundup of 2026 Southwest Florida high school football spring games. Thursday, May 14 Lemon Bay 48, Gateway 14 ENGLEWOOD — The Gateway football team has played with new head coach Chris Strykowski for less than three weeks. That is a short period of time to try to change a culture.
But you have to start somewhere, and the Eagles are going to go through a lot of growing pains to get where they want to be as a program. That started with the spring game against Lemon Bay in Englewood. After a promising start, everything went awry for Gateway as the Manta Rays scored touchdowns on seven straight possessions to cruise to a 48-14 running clock victory Thursday.
The Manta Rays dominated. Led by running back Hogan Winow’s 183 yards rushing and three touchdowns, and two scoring passes by quarterback Colton Davis and his 121 passing yards, Lemon Bay cruised. Gateway got off to a great start.
The Eagles drove into the red zone on its first possession before stalling. After Lemon Bay fumbled on its first possession, Gateway drove the short field and scored on a 2-yard run by C. J.