Gardner –
Team: PikeView
2024 recap
After an 0-10 campaign in 2023, PikeView snapped a 16-game losing streak in 2024, finishing 2-8. The record didn’t tell the entire story though as the Panthers dropped two one-score games and led eventual playoff team Westside at the half.
A run-heavy team, the Panthers return most of their key contributors from a year ago.
2025 outlook
Head coach Jack Turner got a late start last year as he was hired at the end of May, giving him little-to-no time to install an offseason program. As the season went on his team got better, going 2-3 in the last five games, dropping a 20-13 decision at Poca.
“We had opportunities in some games and I was surprised we did what we did,” Turner said. “I got started in June which was late for football. The kids did a really nice job of wanting to learn and trying to learn.”
With a full offseason under his belt the Panthers are poised to build upon that late success. Fielding a roster of around 30 players, Turner had consistent turnout in the weight room and it shows based on how much his players have bulked up. That will be key for an offense that relies on a ground and pound attack to move the ball.
A wing-t team, Turner’s philosophy is he’d rather be great at two or three plays than mediocre at a lot of them. Driving that rushing attack will be a pair of retuning seniors in Peyton Mount and Braydon Mullins.
Mounts led the team with 648 yards, adding six touchdowns while Mullins was hot on his heels with 641 yards and seven scores. Josh Hedrick, who finished third on the team in rushing with 379 yards, is also back.
“You can look at our kids and tell they look different than they did last year,” Turner said. “Look at their legs and arms. Look at their calves. Last year they looked like KFC rejects on those calves. Now you can tell they’ve been lifting weights. That’s been cool to see how hard they’ve bought into it and how hard they work.”
When the Panthers did go to the air they relied on Braiden Huggins, who threw for a team-high 208 yards on 30 passing attempts, connecting with Mounts for 143 yards.
The Panthers will play largely the same schedule they did a year ago with three exceptions. They dropped Nicholas County, James Monroe and Poca in favor of Braxton County, Roanoke Catholic and Buffalo.
They’ll kick off the season on Friday, August. 29 against Summers County, a deviation from the teams’ traditional Thursday kickoff slot.
| 1 | 08/29/25 | 7:00PM | A – | SUMMERS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL | – | |||
| 2 | 09/05/25 | 7:00PM | A – | LIBERTY (RALEIGH) | – | |||
| 3 | 09/12/25 | OPEN | – | |||||
| 4 | 09/19/25 | 7:00PM | H – | WESTSIDE | – | |||
| 5 | 09/26/25 | 7:00PM | H – | SHADY SPRING | – | |||
| 6 | 10/03/25 | 7:00PM | H – | SISSONVILLE | – | |||
| 7 | 10/10/25 | 7:00PM | A – | WYOMING EAST | – | |||
| 8 | 10/16/25 | 7:00PM | A – | BLUEFIELD | – | |||
| 9 | 10/24/25 | 7:00PM | A – | BRAXTON COUNTY | – | |||
| 10 | 10/31/25 | 7:00PM | H – | ROANOKE CATHOLIC, VA H.S. | – | |||
| 11 | 11/07/25 | 7:00PM | H – | BUFFALO | – |
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