North Greenville Ends Florida Tech’s Football Season

The North Greenville Crusaders came into Florida Tech Panther Stadium as the underdog on Saturday, but they certainly didn’t play like it. They used a 24 point second half to upset the Panthers 27-13 in an NCAA Division II first round game.

“North Greenville’s a really good football team, that’s what it comes down to,” said Panthers head coach Steve Englehart after the game. “They controlled a lot of the clock, especially in the first half and they were great on third down offense.”

Things started well for the Panthers, who blocked a 44-yard field goal on the Crusaders first drive. Freshman quarterback Brandon Ziarno, who was making his first start under center, drove Florida Tech down the field on their opening possession, but he was forced to quick kick it on fourth down, pinning NGU at their own eight-yard line. Ziarno was backed up by Ryan Singer, who saw his fair share of snaps in this game as well.

North Greenville quarterback Will Hunter put together a nice drive, leading his team on a 15-play 83-yard march that resulted in a Matt Gravely 26-yard field goal, with 1:06 left in the first quarter. The drive took 6:21 off the clock.

The Panthers (8-3) finally got on the board early in the second quarter. A drive that included a 19-yard run by Antwuan Haynes and a 12-yard keeper by Ziarno, culminated in a 31-yard field goal by Kyle Gullickson, tying the game at three, with 11:52 left in the half.

The Panthers got a defensive stop and a nice run of 19 yards by Trevor Sand early in their next possession. Hoping to spark his offense, Englehart decided to call a fake field goal on 4^th-and-8 from the NGU 17, but the defense came up with a stop, holding Gullickson to a 2-yard gain and the Crusaders took over.

North Greenville’s offense moved the ball well in the first half, but the Panthers red zone offense was stout when it needed to be and the two teams went to the locker room tied at three.

The first Florida Tech possession of the third quarter was short-circuited by a Ziarno interception at their own 32. A pass interference call shortened the field even more for North Greenville and they took advantage with a Tracy Scott 4-yard touchdown run, with 13:03 left in the third.

The Panthers were able put together a run heavy drive, with Haynes and Sand combining for eight consecutive carries. Sand picked up a first down on 4^th-and-2, only to see Ziarno get sacked for a loss of 10 on the next play. Haynes ran for seven and Gary Holmes ran for three, getting those yards back, but FIT had to settle for a 42-yard Gullickson field goal, making it a 10-6 game, with 6:25 left in the third.

The Crusaders (8-4), who were 8-for-15 on third downs in this game, converted a 3^rd-&-13 and a 3^rd-&-9 on their next possession, making the plays when they needed them, against a normally stingy Florida Tech defense.

“I thought our defense played pretty well, it was just a couple of those third downs,” said Englehart. “North Greenville is just a really good football team… no mistakes. They kept everything in front of them and we didn’t get any big plays on them. You couldn’t get anything back from them. If you made a mistake you had no chance to really get it back.”

Hunter’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Javon Smith closed out an impressive 11-play, 74-yard drive and put the Crusaders in the driver’s seat, 17-6 with 2:12 left in the third. After Singer found Kevin Purlett for seven yards to start the drive, Haynes ripped off three consecutive runs, gaining 26 yards, as the third quarter ended.

Singer found Wayne Saunders II for 10 yards and Simon Williams for 15 yards later in the drive, but three plays later, Singer was picked off in the end zone by senior K.J. McDonald and the Panthers missed a golden opportunity.

The Crusaders took advantage of the turnover, going 62 yards in 12 plays, before Gravely finished it off with a 35-yard field goal, giving NGU a 20-6 lead with 7:19 to go in the game.

Florida Tech needed a quick score and they got it on their next possession. Singer opened the drive with a short pass to Haynes, who found a hole and rumbled 53 yards to the NGU 15. Singer then called his own number and ran for 12. After avoiding a disaster by recovering a Sand fumble, the Panthers got to within a touchdown when Singer ran the ball in with 4:28 to go in the game. Suddenly, it was 20-13.

The Panthers looked primed to stop the Crusaders and get the ball back. On a 3^rd-&-1, NGU was flagged for a false start and found themselves in 3^rd-&-6. As they had for much of the day, the visitors found their way out of trouble. This time in a big way, as Hunter found Smith on a little dump off and he took it all the way, 51 yards for the score.

“We were third-and-one and our offensive staff had a play that they felt was the right call for that situation. It didn’t end up that we got to run that play (because of the penalty) and the coaches were quite upset,” said North Greenville Coach Jeff Farrington. “We’re not supposed to run that play, there’s another one somewhere, but that was a huge play.”

Florida Tech needed a miracle, down 27-13, but it was not to be, as Singer was picked off again with 1:25 left in the game and North Greenville kneeled out the clock, putting an end to a great season for the Florida Tech Panthers.

For more info: North Greenville @ Florida Tech Box Score

An emotional coach Englehart said he was proud of this team and proud of what the seniors have done and apologized as he fought back tears, when asked to reflect on the historic season. “Sorry, guys… these seniors mean a lot to me. I just think they have a lot to be proud of.”

He ended the press conference saying he wouldn’t change anything and he was proud of the fight his seniors had all season.

Farrington was very complimentary of the Florida Tech program, following the game. “I think Panther football is very strong and committed he said. “They are certainly in good shape from a coaching standpoint and they play the game the right way. Very impressive.”

The normally dominant Florida Tech run game was held to 169 yards, 94 of those from Haynes. “We wanted to try to make them one-dimensional and take away the run. If you don’t, they do a good job of moving players around to move your gap integrity around. Before you know it, 6 (Haynes) is gone or 28 (Sand) is creasing you.”

North Greenville moves on to play Tuskegee next Saturday, November 26^th.

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