Gridiron Lowdown: Englehart Reflects on Coastal Classic

Mark Cato - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

After what could easily be called the most heart-wrenching loss in program history, Florida Tech coach Steve Englehart took the blame for his teams' 23-21 loss to West Florida on Saturday at Florida Tech Panther Stadium.  

“Ultimately our kids did enough to win the game, yeah we could've made a few more plays when you look throughout the course of the game,” he said. “Especially in that fourth quarter we had chances to put the game away on offense and didn't do that and that led to the series of things that happened in the last two minutes of the game. I take full credit for us not getting that win.” 

“It was a series of things in the last two minutes,” Englehart continued. “All from the officials having it at 3rd-and-1 and changing it late as we went out there to a first down. Not really understanding that. That part of things is on coaching, we gotta be better at that.” 

That was just one in a series of calls by the officials that left fans, broadcasters, and coaches, shaking their heads. It is never good to blame the officiating for a loss and Englehart did not do that on Wednesday, but from the down marker not being correct right away to a late targeting call against defensive back Joe Jackson, to a very questionable intentional grounding call against quarterback Mark Cato on the last play from Florida Tech's offense, there was a lot that happened in that fourth quarter that involved the guys in stripes. 

The final play when the phantom intentional grounding was called, despite the ball clearly being thrown in the direction of wide receiver Romell Guerrier, who was close enough to the ball to be in the area of the pass. Englehart gave us his thoughts on the play. 

“It's a play that should burn off more than six seconds and unfortunately, we didn't execute it the way that we needed to execute it, he said. “I don't understand the penalty but it is what it is at this point. We learn from it as coaches and as players, what we could've done differently and we could've done a lot of things differently obviously.” 

These two teams have only played twice and with a trophy on the line, this was already considered a rivalry, but with the final result of this latest game shrouded in controversy, at least from Florida Tech's point of view, there is no doubt that the rivalry is real now. 

“Unfortunately, we haven't been able to beat those guys in two years,” Englehart said. “We've kind of been cursed so to speak against them the last two years, just had a lot of bad luck. Look, you make your own luck and we'll do a better job in the future.” 

The coach was very clear that last week's game is now in the rear-view mirror and he gave the team that same message. “I told the guys on Monday that we gotta put (West Florida) to bed, we gotta bury it and turn the page. A loss is a loss and you come in on Monday and evaluate and you move on to the next week, that doesn't change.” 

“Every week you put in the best game plan you can and you do the best you can as a coach,” he continued. “You try to motivate your players and ultimately you go out there and lay it on the line on Saturday, play hard for 60 minutes and see what the outcome is. You should never prepare harder for one week or another. 

Next up for the 3-2, (2-1 GSC) Panthers is a trip to Florence, to take on 1-3, 1-2 GSC) North Alabama in a Gulf South Conference showdown. It is also North Alabama's homecoming game. Last years' meeting between these two teams was canceled due to hurricane Matthew. 

Cato, who played in the fourth quarter last week and was in the game on the final drive is good to go according to coach Englehart and the plan is to start him. He acknowledged that last week's starter Trent Chmelik did a great job in the loss to the Argonauts. 

The targeting call against Jackson on Saturday resulted in him being ejected from the remainder of the game. Another consequence of that is that he will not be able to be on the field for the first half of this week's game at North Alabama. 

“That should be finalized today,” Englehart said. “They're reviewing it, but  they've told us the targeting should stand, so we'll have him gone for the first half.” 

Saturday's game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. EDT. You can join Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott on WFIT.org or on your radio at 89.5 FM. Their pregame show will start at 6:30. 

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