Panthers Snake-Bitten by Turnovers at UWA

The Florida Tech Panthers and West Alabama Tigers put on an offensive show in their Gulf South Conference meeting on Saturday, with the Tigers coming out on top, 45-35. With the loss, the Panthers will likely have to win all three of their remaining games, to make the playoffs.

In our conversation with Panthers head coach Steve Englehart on Thursday, he was adamant that if the Panthers won the turnover battle, they would win the game. Unfortunately, the visitors lost four of their five fumbles, including one on the final play of the third quarter that resulted in a scoop and score for West Alabama.

This was an 0ld-fashioned shootout from the start, with the teams combining for 1,147 yards of total offense. The Panthers had 643 yards, setting a school record and Quarterback Mark Cato passed for 502 yards, also a school record. On just about any other day, those numbers would translate into a win, but on this day, the turnovers kept that from happening.

“You’re not going to win football games, especially against good football teams, on the road, if you don’t take care of the football,” said Englehart after the game. “Our offense was very productive and we were doing some great things, but you can go 80 yards and you’re down inside the 10 to 15-yard line and turn the ball over. We did that twice today inside the red zone.”

West Alabama (5-3) got on the board first with 9:55 left in the first when Austin Grammer found Donta Armstrong from nine yards out, capping off a nine-play, 56-yard drive. The Tigers defense held and they were driving again, before Armstrong caught a pass that was knocked out of his hands and recovered by Tyler Rosenblatt.

On the third play of the drive Cato threw a short pass to Antwuan Haynes, who took it 62 yards for the score, tying things at 7. On their next drive, Cato got some help from Haynes in the running game, as he ripped off an 18 yarder. Two plays later, Troy Gatling caught a pass from Cato and took off for 55 yards, down to the nine if the Tigers. Trevor Sand finished the drive with two runs, including a one yard run to get it in the end zone and put the Panthers up 14-7 with 32 seconds left in the quarter.

West Alabama tied things up again when they answered with a seven-play, 62-yard drive that took just 1:50 off the clock. The Panthers were unfazed, as Cato found Buck Watkins on the first play of the next drive for 71 yards, down to the 8. After a short run by Trevor Sand, Cato was sacked and lost the ball, it went backwards and Felix Woods hopped on it for UWA at the 14.

The Tigers turned that mistake into points, when Grammer found Corey Davis with a 27-yard touchdown, giving the home team a 20-14 lead, with 9:06 to go before the half. That put an exclamation point on a nine-play, 81-yard drive.

Each team failed to score on their next drive, but Cato got the offense going again, when he found Watkins for 31-yard catch and run. Cato took a sack later in the drive on second down and although he found Kenny Johnston on the next play, getting a big chunk of yardage back, the sack proved costly, because kicker Brad Williams, replacing Zachary Leatherman in the lineup, missed a 33-yard attempt wide right, with six seconds left in the half and leaving the Panthers empty handed on a 13-play, 71-yard drive that ate up 5:36.

The Tigers got the ball to start the third quarter, but went three-and-out. Haynes started the Panthers next drive with runs of 8, 18 and 35 yards. Three plays later, Cato hooked up with Gatling on a 26-yard touchdown, tying things up at 21 with 10:49 left in the third. It was likely the play of the year for the Panthers, as Gatling on 3rd-and-12, laid out and caught the ball with one hand, bringing it into his body, before hitting the ground.

West Alabama answered in short order, needing just 2:23 and 7 plays to go 67 yards. Lakenderic Thomas pushed it in from one yard out, giving his team a 28-21 lead with 8:13 to go in the quarter. The Panthers (5-2) punted on their next drive, but they were helped by an inexplicable mistake by return man Sid Thurmond, who instead of letting the short punt bounce, ran up on it and muffed it. Patrick Banks recovered for the Panthers at the UWA 38.

Cato had rushes of 13 and 10 yards on the drive and Haynes finished it off with a six-yard run up the middle, tying the game at 28, with 2:20 to go in the third. The Panthers defense was up to the task on the next West Alabama drive, forcing a three-and-out with just 50 seconds coming off the clock.

Cato took a sack on the first play, but came back to complete an 11-yard pass to the FIT 44. On the next play, Cato ran up the middle, but he lost the handle and the ball was scooped up by Tavarious Hutchinson, who took it to the house and just like that, the Panthers were down 35-28, as the third quarter expired.

That was a sign of things to come, as the Panthers struggled to hang on to the ball in the fourth quarter. After forcing the Panthers to punt on their first possession of the fourth, Grammer found Davis for a 19-yard score, making it 42-28 with 10:08 left.

On the first play of the ensuing Panthers drive, Kenny Johnston caught a Cato pass, only to lose the ball, resulting in another UWA fumble recovery. Ultimately, the Tigers managed Jordan Bennett 44-yard field goal, putting them up 45-28 with 6:53 to go.

The Panthers put themselves in position to answer quickly, when Cato found Kevin Purlett for 45 yards on the first play. Haynes rushed on three straight plays and it was one too many, as he fumbled on his third carry, killing the drive inside the Tigers 15. West Alabama didn’t do any damage on the offensive side after the fumble, but they didn’t have to. The damage was done with the fumble recovery.

Florida Tech made one last gasp when Cato aired it out and found Johnston with an 88-yard bomb that brought the Panthers to within 10 and officially put Cato over the 500 passing yards milestone. The ensuing onside kick by the Panthers went out of bounds and with 1:35 left, UWA just kneeled on the ball the rest of the way.

For more info: Florida Tech @ West Alabama Box Score

West Alabama deserved to win the football game,” Englehart said, “but we lost it, that’s the way I feel, we lost it.”

I just told them in there, ‘Guys, you know why we lost the football game, I don’t have to tell you why’,” said Englehart. We weren’t great in any phase.”

When you combine the turnovers with the fact that West Alabama was 8-of-14 on third down, including conversions of 3^rd-and-19 and 3^rd-and-12, it’s not hard to see how the offense, as good as it was, couldn’t make up for the mistakes.

With a 2-2 conference record and three conference games left, against Valdosta State, West Georgia and Delta State, coach Englehart knows that his team has their backs against the wall, in the playoff race.

“We are in a position right now where we’re in the grave,” he said. “We gotta claw ourselves out and you gotta do it one game at a time. Are you gonna lay down and stay in there, or are you gonna fight and crawl yourself out of it, because that’s the situation we’re in right now.”

Valdosta State visits Melbourne next Saturday in a 7:00 p.m. tilt. Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott will be in the call, with their pre-game show getting underway at 6:30 p.m. WFIT 89.5 and WFIT.org will have the broadcast.

Please Note: The quotes from coach Englehart are courtesy of Paul Van Scott and Jerry Durney’s post-game interview. Thank you to those guys, along with Athletic communications Director Mitch Praxl for the use of the audio.

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