Panthers Triumph over #14 Valdosta State

The Florida Tech Panthers pulled away from Valdosta State on Saturday, scoring 21 fourth quarter points in a 38-20 victory over the 14^th ranked Blazers at Florida Tech Panther Stadium in Melbourne.

"It was a big win and a win that we needed,” said Florida Tech coach Steve Englehart. “Our defense shut ‘em down and held them to six points, it’s an exciting win for our program.”

This was everything you would expect from a Gulf South Conference game, this late in the season. Valdosta State came in with a bit if an attitude, refusing to shake hands at midfield before the contest. Things got a bit heated, but nothing came of it.

Englehart was asked how his team felt about the situation, after the game. “It angered them,” he said. “It is what it is and I’m gonna leave it at that. Everyone has their own thing and maybe that’s what they though they needed to get themselves pumped up, I don’t know.”

If Valdosta State was hoping to pump themselves up, they likely did just the opposite, as Florida Tech opened the game on offense and got a 15-yard run from Antwuan Haynes and a 50-yard jaunt later in the drive from Gary Holmes down to the three. Holmes leaped over a downed defender during the big run. Quarterback Mark Cato called his own number on the next play and put the Panthers up 7-0, with 2:56 gone in the first quarter.

“We just knew being back home in front of our fans was gonna give us a lot of momentum,” said Cato. “We had to start fast and start strong and hit them in the mouth and get a good jump on them. From there on out, we kept moving and kept focused.”

After holding the Blazers to one yard on their first possession, Cato and the Panthers went back to work, with a 10-play 38-yard drive that netted a field goal by Kyle Gullickson, giving the Panthers a 10-0 lead. The big play on that drive was a 20-yard pass from Cato to tight end Kenny Johnston.

Florida Tech (6-2, 3-2 GSC) looked primed to put points on the board on their next drive, with the help of a Cato to Wayne Saunders 25-yard hookup, followed by a Haynes run that went for 39. The Panthers were also helped by a pass interference call, but in the end, Gullickson failed to convert from 29 yards out and the Panthers could not add to their lead, with 57.9 seconds left.

The Blazers got on the board with 9:16 left in the half, thanks to their defense. Cato was hit from behind as he was throwing and the ball went right into the arms of Egim Etta-Tawo, who rumbled 45 yards to pay dirt and just like that, the Panthers lead shrunk to 10-7.

The Panthers answered two drives later, highlighted by a Haynes 32-yard rush that took the ball from the Florida Tech 38, to the VSU 30. Haynes and Trevor Sand would do the bulk of the work from there, keeping the ball on the ground with Haynes capping an 11-play 62-yard drive with a four-yard scamper.

That gave the Panthers a 17-7 lead that they took with them into the locker room. The score was not as lopsided as the stats, with the Panthers racking up 187 yards of offense to Valdosta’s 45.

Valdosta State (6-2, 4-2 GSC) struck first in the second half. They drove 51 yards in 14 plays on their second drive of the third quarter, resulting in a 36-yard field goal from Andrew Gray and cutting the Panthers lead to 17-10, with 4:10 left in the third.

Neither team scored on their next possession and the Panthers took over with 1:15 left in the quarter. Two Haynes rushes, totaling 12 yards, ended the quarter. On the first play of the fourth, a bad snap eluded Cato and was recovered in the end zone, tying the game at 17.

“It was a high snap, a botched snap and we weren’t able to get on it,” said Cato. “We gave them a few breaks here and there, but our defense held us up and we just had to finish in the fourth quarter, win the fourth quarter.”

They did just that, as Tyler Rosenblatt started things off with an interception of Roland Rivers’ pass at the FIT 33-yard line, ending VSU’s first possession of the fourth quarter. That was the answer for the fumble touchdown that tied the game minutes earlier.

Cato took off on the first play of the ensuing drive, racing for 34 yards. Haynes followed that with a nifty cutback run, but the Panthers were flagged for holding on the play. 

The Panthers used the running game for much of the remainder of the drive, except for a 12-yard pass to Johnston, getting the ball to the one-yard line. Sand got the carry on the next play and cashed in, giving the Panthers a 24-17 lead with 9:11 left.

VSU answered with a field goal on their next drive, making it a 24-20 game with 6:12 left. The Florida Tech drive started at their 16 and it took just two plays for the Panthers to boost the lead to 11. After a three-yard run by Haynes, Cato found a wide-open Saunders, who blazed past the Valdosta defense, for an 81-yard score, making it a 31-20 contest.

The Panthers would get it right back, thanks to a leaping interception that Rosenblatt pulled down. Rivers threw it up from about the 10, knowing he needed to move the ball in a hurry, but Rosenblatt sealed the game, with as good a pick as you will see.

The next Florida Tech drive saw Sand run for a 32-yard chunk on the second play and Cato capped things off on the sixth play of the drive, with an eight-yard run, giving the Panthers their final margin of victory.

Haynes had 197 yards rushing to lead the Panthers, who had 345 on the ground as a team. The home team had a total of 505 yards of offense and held the high-powered visitors to 249 overall.

For More Info: Valdosta State @ Florida Tech Box Score

With that, the Panthers earned a huge conference win and their first win against the Blazers, who had

won all three of the previous meetings between these teams.

“We knew it coming in,” said Cato of the 0-3 record. “The seniors knew it and we came out here for the seniors, just to say they finally beat Valdosta. “It’s a great day for them.”

Cato knows that these last two games are crucial, but he is determined to keep the team focused and take it one game at a time.

“We just feel like we’ve been giving away games here and there,” Cato said. “We’ve been doing everything we need to and its not been in our favor. We’re gonna just keep doing what we’re doing and try to limit shooting ourselves in the foot.”

“Every week playoffs are a little more important and hopefully we can keep the momentum going,” said Englehart. “We’ve been challenged this year; I think this team is battle-tested and hopefully we can keep that thing going.”

The Panthers hit the road for a game at West Georgia on Saturday. This crucial Gulf South Conference showdown gets underway at 2:00 p.m.

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