Sports Lowdown

Sekai Lindsay - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography After breaking their two-game losing streak last Saturday with a 42-31 win over North Greenville last week, the Panthers were in good spirits on Wednesday, as they gear up for a showdown with the best team in the Gulf South Conference on Saturday, in West Alabama.   In this edition of Gridiron Lowdown Panthers coach Steve Englehart summed up the win over North Greenville and talked about the task ahead of his team this weekend.   “Obviously it was huge for us to kind of get our confidence back and go on the road and beat a good football team, a team that beat us in the playoffs last year in the playoffs. I thought we did a lot of really good things on offense, got the ball downfield a lot and had a lot of big explosion plays and that loosened the North Greenville defense up for us to run the ball.”   The Panthers (4-3, 2-2 GSC) scored just seven points in the fourth quarter, but they controlled ...

Adonis Davis #48 - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Quarterback Mark Cato and defensive lineman Adonis Davis were key players in the Panthers 42-31 victory at North Greenville on Saturday. Monday, the Gulf South Conference recognized their efforts, naming them the Offensive and Defensive Player of the week, respectively.   Cato finished 20-of-33 for 325 yards and four passing touchdowns. He carried the ball seven times for just 11 yards, but added a rushing touchdown in the second quarter, a one-yard scamper that finished off an 11-play, 81-yard drive.   Through six games, Cato has completed 78-of-133 passes (58.6%) for 1,026 yards. He has eight touchdowns and six interceptions and is averaging 171 yards a game through the air.   This is Cato's second Offensive Player of the Week conference award. He last won the award the week of September 8, 2014.   Davis did his part on defense, as he has all season long. He had a team-high eight ta...

Antwuan Haynes - Photo Credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers overcame a tough third quarter on Saturday, taking down the North Greenville Crusaders 42-31 and snapping a two-game losing streak in the process.   “I really loved the execution of our offense and what they did,” said Panthers head coach Steve Englehart in his postgame interview with Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott on WFIT Radio.  “Defense played well too, they shut 'em down when they needed to shut 'em down. Whatever the yards and points are I don't care,  we win the football game. I don't care if we win 2-0 or 49-48, it was a great team win.”   Big offensive efforts from quarterback Mark Cato , who completed 20-of-33 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns and Antwuan Haynes who carried 22 times for 155 yards and a touchdown, got the Panthers a big win over a team that ended their season last year in the first round of the playoffs.   After a tough fi...

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...