Panthers Gridiron Lowdown

The Florida Tech Panthers are gearing up for their Gulf South Conference showdown against West Alabama on Saturday. Sports Lowdown spoke to coach Steve Englehart following Thursday’s practice.

After last week’s win over Fort Valley State, Panthers coach Steve Englehart made mention of the fact that it had been a rough couple of weeks, with the loss to West Florida, the after-effects of Hurricane Matthew and some internal things going on with the team.

Despite all that, the team rolled to a 48-14 victory, setting a record for points scored in a home game. Thursday, Englehart said that those distractions are behind them. 

“We’re focused on the situation and the task at-hand,” he said. “That’s to go on the road to Livingston Alabama, have a great trip and hopefully come out of there with a win. All the focus is on that and I think we have short memories, what’s happened has happened and we’re all focused on this week.”

Englehart said Saturday that his team had some things to clean up, despite the dominating performance, focused mainly on turnovers. By Thursday, he was confident that the team understood the need to correct those things.

“We covered some of those things in our Sunday meeting and I think they understood the urgency of the situation that we’re in with four weeks left,” he said. “Time is ticking and we have to make sure that we’re focused in all phases, no matter what our role is and making sure that the things we need to do to be successful, we’re doing on a consistent basis.”

All of the games down the stretch will pose a challenge for the Panthers, but against West Alabama in particular, the key according to the coach is to hang on to the football. “When you’re on the road, you have to execute and you can’t turn the football over,” said Englehart. “I think if we do not turn the football over, then we will have a great chance to win the football game.”

“Obviously, our defense has to get the ball back and get some turnovers as well,” he continued. “If we can win that turnover battle than I think we got a great shot.”

Last Saturday, the Panthers got an 89-yard kickoff return from Gary Holmes down to the six-yard line, to start the game. Coach Englehart believes getting off to a fast start in this game is key as well. 

“The goal is always to start fast and for special teams to make plays to help us win a football game, not just be there, because it’s special teams. They need to help us win.”

Another key to this game will be balance. As with every game, the coach likes to have a balanced attack. That said, he understands fully that each game presents challenges that may get in the way of that.

“Sometimes it’s just harder on certain defenses to have a strong running game,” said Englehart. “That’s when you have to be able to throw it more in those situations, or vise-versa... our throwing numbers are down, but it’s maybe because we can run the ball first.”

“We’re gonna be a run first type of team,” he continued, “but if people take that away, we need to be able to throw the ball and that’s where the balance comes in.”

The game in Livingston will start at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, which from a coaching standpoint is better than a night game, according to Englehart.

“A lot of us (coaches) would prefer the day game, that way you don’t have to sit around the hotel all day Saturday,” he said. “That way you have plenty of time to get home and start working towards the next game. When you have a night game, you’re not getting back until early on Sunday morning.”

You can join Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott with the call of the game on WFIT 89.5 FM and WFIT.org, as well as the TuneIn Radio app. They will be on the air at 2:30 with the pre-game show.   

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