Second Half Surge Carries Panthers Past Wolves

University Field/Photo Credit: Jerry Durney

The Florida Tech Panthers scored 24 unanswered points, bridging the second and third quarter Saturday, leading to a 45-21 win over West Georgia in a key Gulf South Conference football game. The win was the first for Florida Tech in three trips to Carrollton.

The Panthers salted things away in the fourth quarter with a 40-yard run by Trevor Sand with 1:20 left in the contest, which was the Panthers second touchdown of the quarter. That is on the heels of a 21 point fourth quarter in last week’s big win over Valdosta State.

As nicely as the game ended for the Panthers on this Saturday, it did not start out that way. For the second straight week, a bad snap ended up costing the Panthers as quarterback Mark Cato had a snap go just out of his reach and over his head. The Wolves recovered at the Panthers 34 and six plays later, West Georgia quarterback Willie Candler found Brandon Walton for an 11-yard touchdown. That put the Wolves up 7-0 with 9:50 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers (7-2, 4-2 GSC) went nine plays on their next possession and ate up 42 yards, but were unable to come away with points. That was rectified moments later, when Candler dropped back on the first play of the ensuing drive and was picked off by Manny Abad when he jumped in front of the receiver and took the ball to the house, tying the game at 7, with 4:46 left in the opening stanza.

Candler was intercepted again on the next West Georgia drive by Yawn Coleman, setting the Panthers up at their own 43. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they only went eight yards on four plays and had to punt the ball away, missing a key scoring chance.

Cato got another chance with 12:44 left in the half, but he was intercepted by Gabe Freeman at the Panthers 14-yard line and one play later, LeMarcus Franks gave the home team their second lead of the day, at 14-7. Turnovers were costly early, but to the Panthers’ credit, they bounced back on the next drive, that started at the 37 of West Georgia.

It was an odd drive that featured a few penalties, including an unsportsmanlike call against Cato. Tight end Kenny Johnston came up with back-to-back first down catches of 13 and 14 yards. West Georgia was flagged for roughing the passer on the 14-yard play, taking it down to the six.  Sand ran it in two plays later from three yards out, tying the game at 14.

After the Wolves went three-and-out the Panthers got the ball back at their 28, with 4:44 left. The drive ended up in a punt, but a run by Cato on the third play of the drive, Cato ran for seven yards and took a shot to the head by Freeman, as he slid down feet first. Freeman was ejected from the game.

Cato was sacked later in the drive and fumbled as well, but the Panthers maintained possession and punted it away. West Georgia took over with 2:36 on the clock, but went backwards on the drive, resulting in a punt.

The Panthers took over at the 38-yard line of the Wolves. Cato threw a 10-yard completion to Tityus Mitchell and had an eight-yard run on 4^th-and-1. Two plays later he broke loose for a 21 yard and a touchdown, giving the Panthers a 21-14 lead at the half.

Cato finished the first half 9-of-16 for 84 yards passing and led the team with 38 yards rushing and the one touchdown.

“It was fun, it was a fun game,” said Panthers head coach Steve Englehart in his post gamer interview with Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott and then he quickly amended that. “Actually, it wasn’t that fun to be honest,” he said. “That first half was a battle back-and-forth and we had some missed opportunities at times, trying to do too much and giving away the ball. To go in to halftime 21-14was unbelievable, because really, we gave them the 14 points because of turnovers.”

West Georgia started the second half with the ball, but they had to punt it away. Max Erdman returned the punt 45 yards, to the Wolves’ 23 and a delay of game penalty took it back to the 28. Another four-play, eight-yard drive kept the Panthers from what could have been a big score. It ended with the Panthers coming up short on a 4^th-and-9.

“Special teams should’ve set us up for a score,” Englehart said. “Max Erdman doing a great job at punt return, I’m glad we put him back there. That’s the longest punt return we’ve had since Antwuan (Haynes) last year at Fort Valley.”

The Panthers got a bit of a break on the next drive, when Candler was sacked and fumbled, recovered by the Panthers Tevin Kirkland on the 10-yard line. Three rushes gained minimal yardage and ended up in a Kyle Gullickson field goal, giving the Panthers a 24-14 lead, with 5:41 left in the third.

Another three-and-out for the Wolves followed and the Panthers got the ball back at their own 45. Cato wasted no time, throwing a 33-yard pass to Haynes. Two plays later, Haynes found his way through for a 22-yard touchdown run, giving the Panthers a 31-14 lead with 3:54 left in the quarter.

West Georgia (6-4, 3-4 GSC) ended the third quarter with a nine-play, 73-yard drive, ending with a Qa Walker 12-yard touchdown catch with no time in the clock, ending the 24-point streak by the Panthers. With that, it was 31-21 game with 15 minutes left.

A fumble on the first West Georgia drive of the fourth was picked up by Billy Sturgis and the Panthers took over at the 32 of the Wolves. Running back Gary Holmes ran the ball two consecutive times for 21 and 11 yards. The latter resulted in a huge insurance touchdown for Florida Tech, making it a 38-21 game. It took just 33 seconds to go 32 yards.

The Panthers defense stepped up big on the next drive with sacks by Skylar Sheffield and Adonis Davis, who was held out of the first half, due to a targeting call he picked up late in the game last week.

With 4:08 left in the game, the Panthers started at midfield. After three straight rushes by Haynes and a one-yard rush by Cato, Sand pinballed his way through the defense and a 40-yard touchdown run, putting an exclamation point on the 45-21 Panthers victory.

The 45 points allowed was a season high for the Wolves' defense. 

For more info: Florida Tech @ West Georgia Box Score

The Panthers had seven sacks in this contest, including one by Chris Stapleton, who had 13 tackles on the day. They held the Wolves to 272 yards on offense.

“Our defense played outstanding once again,” said Englehart. “They’re just playing really good football right now and they’re playing together. We knew our defense would wear them out in the second half, so we would get plenty of possessions.”

Englehart was proud of his offense as well, especially the running game that picked up 211 rushing yards. “You look at the running game and it was tough,” he said. “This was the best defense we’ve faced all year and yet we still put up points like that. I have a ton of respect for coach Hall and what he’s doing with this program, but I’m proud of our guys for the way they just kept fighting.”

The Panthers were ranked sixth in region two coming into this game and will certainly move up this week, ahead of their regular season finale next week at home against Delta State. They are coming off a 49-19 loss to North Alabama on October 29.

“We’ll have a tough home game to finish out the season,” Englehart said. “In our eyes we still have to win that to make the playoffs. It’ll be a challenge.”

There’s a lot on the line next Saturday, not just the possibility of the first playoff berth in school history, but also the chance for the first eight-win season in history. Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m. at Florida Tech Panther Stadium.

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