Sports Lowdown

Mark Cato - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers scored a huge upset Saturday, beating the #18 West Alabama Tigers 41-39 in a Gulf South Conference contest. It was the first loss for West Alabama in the conference.   “We knew we were gonna get their best shot through the entire game,” said Panthers quarterback Mark Cato . “We just had to stay tough through it and convert on the gameplan that we had and everything would come to fruition.”   “We didn't play clean but we played hard,” said Florida Tech head coach Steve Englehart after the game. “This was a great team victory.”   This game went back-and-forth throughout, with Cato going 22-for-40 throwing for 345 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for the game-winning touchdown, an 11-yard scamper, with 51 seconds left. This followed a 325-yard performance from Cato last week, against North Greenville .   Statistically, this game couldn't have been more even and it p...

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 ...

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...

Braly Municipal Stadium - Photo Credit: Jerry Durney North Alabama (2-3, 2-2 GSC) made their last Division II meeting against Florida Tech a memorable one on Homecoming Saturday, using 21 third-quarter points to pull away from the Panthers, 30-7. “It was just a horrible third quarter, can't-do anything about it,” said Florida Tech coach Steve Englehart in his post-game interview with Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott of WFIT Radio. “Told our guys in the locker room you gotta do the little things right from Monday to Friday, you can't just expect to do them on Saturday and we gotta get better.”   On a night when the Panthers won many of the statistical battles handily, defending Gulf South Conference champion North Alabama took advantage of four turnovers, turning that into 20 points and sending the Panthers home with their second straight conference loss.   “Too many bad things happened,” Englehart, said. “Offensively, not really executing, couldn't bloc...

Antwuan Haynes rushed for 170 yards on Saturday - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography For the second straight year, the West Florida Argonauts took home the Coastal Classic trophy, beating the Florida Tech Panthers on a last-second 44-yard field goal by Austin Williams, sending the visitors home with a 23-21 come-from-behind victory.   To say this was a wild game is a huge understatement. To say this game had bad officiating calls is also an understatement, but the Panthers and the officials let West Florida hang around, just long enough to give the Argos their second victory over the Panthers in just their second year of existence.   The final drive was key, but in order to get the full picture, it is best to go play-by-play. Even then, it may not be believed as you sit and read it.   Florida Tech (3-2, 2-1 GSC) started their last drive with 2:53 left on the clock and Antwuan Haynes who finished the night with 170 yards on the ground got two yards...

Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Florida Tech coach Steve Englehart has said week in and week out that last year was last year and this year is this year. In all those cases, he was correct... but this week, is just a bit different.   “You can't keep it from 'em, they know what it is,” said Englehart. “They know it's an in-state rivalry and it's a trophy game, you get a trophy if you win it. It is different.”   On Saturday, the Panthers will welcome the West Florida Argonauts to Melbourne for the second Coastal Classic game. It is the first in the series to be played at Florida Tech Panthers Stadium and Florida Tech will be looking to avenge last years' 42-39 loss, to what was then a first-year program, in West Florida.   “We went up there last year, we were 4-0 feeling pretty good about ourselves,” said Englehart. “They took it to us. They played better than we did, they played harder than we did... they played with more passion and they o...

Trent Chmelik - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers scored 28 points in the second half on Saturday, coming away with a 35-0 win over the Mississippi College Choctaws at Robinson-Hale Stadium. With the victory, the Panthers improve to 3-1 on the season, including 2-0 in the Gulf South Conference.   This was the second straight game that the Panthers defense did not allow a touchdown and the second shutout of the season overall, following the 44-0 drubbing of Virginia University of Lynchburg to start the season.   “The defense has been unbelievable,” said head coach Steve Englehart, as he started his postgame interview with Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott. “They've been kind of a bend-don't break style all year and they didn't even bend tonight.”   Things got off to a good start for the Panthers, who took the ball 76 yards on their opening possession, highlighted by an 18-yard catch by Robert Foy and capped off by a Gary H...