Cardinal Gibbons unable to stop Lake Mary’s run game in season-opening 49-20 loss
All eyes were on Noah Grubbs coming into Friday’s high school showdown between Lake Mary (1-0) and Cardinal Gibbons (0-1). Grubbs is a consensus top-200 player in the 2026 high school class and has already made a verbal commitment to play football at Notre Dame.
But his presence was not detectable Friday, as Lake Mary’s running game – highlighted by five rushing touchdowns – carried the show in the Rams’ 49-20 victory over the Chiefs.
It felt even when the Chiefs knew a run play was coming, they could do nothing to hinder it.
“They’re a good team and they had a good offensive line,” Cardinal Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc said. “We just need to tackle better, but I don’t think in any phase of the game we really played the way we’re capable of.”
On the opposite side of the ball, the Chiefs offense wasn’t able to make up for its poor defense, as the Rams put pressure on junior quarterback Jayden Torres all night.
The team’s sole touchdown in the first half came when they got short field after Temple commit senior JaMarcus Pierre’s interception. Pierre was one of the bright spots in the game, as his interception and long return, which was called back after offsetting penalties, gave the Chiefs a chance to cut into Lake Mary’s lead.
“He played one of his best games,” DuBuc said. “The interception and kickoff return [were great] and he tackled. He’s a good player.”
But even after Cardinal Gibbons found themselves down 28-7 at halftime, the worst had yet to come.
In the third quarter, starting quarterback Jayden Torres injured himself after being taken to the ground by multiple Lake Mary defenders. According to DuBuc, Torres suffered a high-ankle sprain, but is unsure what his status will be in next week’s game against South Broward.
Sophomore Cody Conness came in for Torres after the play. While Conness had a far from perfect game – throwing an interception to senior linebacker Eli Straker – he did lead the Chiefs to two touchdown drives late in the game– delivering passes to Merrick Todich and Trent DuBuc for scores.
“We felt that he could do it,” DuBuc said. “His best football is in the future, but it might be now for a little bit.”
The Chiefs lost a lot of FBS-level talent off of last year’s team, including Georgia tight end Colton Heinrich, Princeton safety Casey Etienne and North Carolina quarterback Michael Merdinger— and DuBuc knows that Lake Mary tried to attack the Chiefs in the spots they were weak.
“They knew that we lost a bunch of guys,” DuBuc said. “So I think they’re game plan was to probably try to exploit that.”