Having breezed through its first six games with relative ease, Gateway was presented with its first true test of the season with a trip to Foothills Conference foe Erie McDowell.

The Gators, the Post-Gazette's top-ranked team in WPIAL Class AAAA, passed last night's test to remain undefeated.

Brian Williams ran for 192 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries, while teammate Rob Kalkstein threw for 130 yards and a touchdown as Gateway (7-0, 5-0) held off Erie McDowell, 30-18.

Corey Brown caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Kalkstein in the first quarter, which gave Gateway a 7-3 lead at halftime.

In the third, Dorian Bell punched in a 1-yard run for a score to give the Gators a 14-3 lead.

The scoring opened up in the fourth when Erie McDowell's Alex Orzechowski caught a 6-yard pass from A.J. Fenton.

Gateway responded when Josh Vermeulen returned a kickoff 72 yards for a score to make it 21-10.

After a 31-yard field goal by Gateway's Ryan Lichtenstein, Nate Bailey of Erie McDowell (4-3, 3-2) caught a 36-yard scoring pass from Fenton to narrow the margin to 23-18.

Williams put the game out of reach when he scored on a 77-yard run with 2:01 left in the game.