’27 ATH joins the Colonel team for this, its ‘Swan Song’
The kids on Christian County’s football team call him “Junior.” His name is Anthony Gabriel, Jr. and he played both baseball and football at Twentynine Palms High in California a year ago. Gabriel was a RB/LB at Twentynine Palms. Gabriel figures to play on both lines of scrimmage for Christian County. Gabriel gives the Colonels a polished football player who has size, is aggressive, is explosive, has length, is athletic, and has a high football IQ. Gabriel may be just what the Colonels ordered for this last season, or “Swan Song,” if you will.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Hopkinsville, KY: Around the commonwealth last evening, teams from Pikeville to Paducah opened the 2025 football season. Not all teams open on “Friday Night.” There are a fair amount of games this evening. We can think of one which we will be watching with keen interest.
and football star, Hudl
Christian County opens its season tonight. The Colonels will entertain the Eagles from Clarksville’s Northeast High School (TN), a pair of 6A ball clubs, one from the commonwealth and the other from the state comprising much of its southern border.
When the Colonels take the field, the Christian County, Kentuckians will be debuting a new weapon. The Colonels will be unveiling its newly minted Colonel formerly hailing from the state of California, Anthony Gabriel, Jr.
Gabriel has made it to Christian County just in time for the program’s “Swan Song.” Gabriel’s skill set promises to make sweet music in his Kentucky debut.
The term “Swan Song” refers to a final performance, gesture, or piece of work given before retirement or death, often associated with a sense of finality and significance. The idea of the swan’s final song appeared in ancient Greek literature, with mentions in works by Aeschylus, Plato, and Socrates.
While the belief that swans sing before death is not scientifically accurate (swans are known to be relatively quiet but make various sounds like trumpeting, hissing, or whistling, but not a beautiful song), the metaphor has persisted in literature and popular culture. We find it particularly apropos this evening as the Colonels will take the field tonight to open its final football season. The Colonels will debut a new face critically important to the team’s fortunes in this, its “Swan Song” of a season.
The young man’s surname being “Gabriel” seems additionally significant. The archangel, Gabriel, is a prominent figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In Christianity, Gabriel is specifically associated with announcing important events, like the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. Gabriel’s name, derived from Hebrew, can be translated as “God is my strength” or “God is my hero.”
This particular “Gabriel,” the football playing kind and not necessarily the “messenger of God,” has a message for Northeast and he hopes to personally deliver it tonight. That message is “the Colonels are not the same team you watched in 2024.”
You know what people say, each football season brings a fresh sense of hope. As a famous literary figure once taught us, “[h]ope springs eternal in the human breast.” Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, 1732.
There are significant reasons for the optimism Colonel fans feel about the coming season. First, Gabriel brings some much needed size to the Colonel lineup.
Gabriel has a 6’3″ wingspan, a standing reach of 6’11,” and clips off 40-yard dashes in five flat, shuttling in 4.55
Friday Night Fletch
Gabriel is a 6’0,” 245-pound athlete who is sufficiently athletic to have played both hind catcher in baseball, pitcher, and RB/LB in football as a sophomore, a year ago, at Twentynine Palms High. Gabriel has a 6’3″ wingspan, a standing reach of 6’11,” and clips off 40-yard dashes in five flat, shuttling in 4.55.
Now while that may not be “flying” at RB or at LB, tonight you will see Gabriel at OG/DT. Those are really good numbers at either of those posts.
Gabriel also boasts a 9’10” broad jump and a 27-inch vertical. Translation: Gabriel is explosive in his hips.
I tell you what, go around to every football coach you know in Kentucky and ask if they would like a guard/tackle, two-way lineman who weighs 245, runs a five-flat forty, shuttles in the mid-fours, verticals 27-inches, while broad jumping nearly ten feet and see how many “takers” you get. There will be quite a few. How many of those do you have on your present roster?
Head on out to the Stadium of Champions tonight and watch what we expect to be a much better Colonel football team. Make sure you keep an eye out on the Gabriel kid. He has a message for you…
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball and KPI Newspaper Group, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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