Sports Lowdown

Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Following their big win over then 18th ranked West Alabama last Saturday, Florida Tech head coach Steve Englehart took a little time to enjoy his teams' victory, but it wasn't long before he was back to the coaching grind.   “It was good that it was a day game because then you had the rest of the day to savor it,” he said. “Went home, hung out with the family and had some friends over. It was fun, but back to work on Sunday to start preparing for a good Valdosta State team, who had a good win as well.”   Valdosta is coming off a 34-13 win over Delta State that saw the Blazers force four turnovers and scoring on all of them, to the tune of three touchdowns and a field goal.   “That was a huge win for them,” Englehart said. “They lost a close one early in the year to Albany State, they lost a close one to North AL and they lost to West Georgia. They're getting back on track now, won a couple in a row and they feel li...

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 ...

2016 playoffs - North Greenville - Photo credit: James Ragan Despite another good performance out of the defense, the Florida Tech Panthers suffered their second straight loss last Saturday falling to North Alabama 30-7. North Alabama got a blocked punt for a touchdown and a pick-6, turning what was a close game at the half, into one of the most lopsided losses in program history.   “It wasn't turnovers that were anything that they did to create the turnovers, it was our own fault,” said head coach Steve Englehart on Thursday. “We had two passes that hit our wide receivers right in the hands that popped up and they end up picking them off and obviously the blocked punt had a big part to do with the game.”   Outside of those turnovers, the Panthers held the North Alabama offense in check. They allowed the Lions 134 yards of total offense, including 56 through the air. This is not a surprise, as the Panthers defense has come up big all season.   “Defens...

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 ser...

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...

Thursday's Football Practice The Florida Tech football team is coming off a convincing 31-6 home win over Shorter last Saturday and will now head to Mississippi College to take on the Choctaws.   “Practice was really good this week, we simplified some things both offensively and defensively, hoping to help with the execution we're looking for,” said head coach Steve Englehart. “I don't think that we've played great yet and haven't played at a high enough level. We simplified some things down, hoping to play better and play more mistake-free football.”   One of the mistakes Englehart was talking about was the Panthers early turnovers in the last couple games, both against McNeese State and Shorter, they turned the ball over on the first possession. McNeese took advantage, but the Florida Tech defense was able to keep Shorter from capitalizing.   “We have to make sure we put the kids in the right position, especially early in the football game,” En...

The Florida Tech Panthers are gearing up for their Gulf South Conference showdown against West Alabama on Saturday. Sports Lowdown spoke to coach Steve Englehart following Thursday’s practice. After last week’s win over Fort Valley State , Panthers coach Steve Englehart made mention of the fact that it had been a rough couple of weeks, with the loss to West Florida, the after-effects of Hurricane Matthew and some internal things going on with the team. Despite all that, the team rolled to a 48-14 victory, setting a record for points scored in a home game. Thursday, Englehart said that those distractions are behind them.  “We’re focused on the situation and the task at-hand,” he said. “That’s to go on the road to Livingston Alabama, have a great trip and hopefully come out of there with a win. All the focus is on that and I think we have short memories, what’s happened has happened and we’re all focused on this week.” Englehart said Saturday that his team had s...

The Florida Tech Football team is coming off a big win over Division I FCS opponent Presbyterian on Saturday, coming away with a 28-7 victory. “Our game plan going in was to hit some big plays on them,” said head coach Steve Englehart. “We didn’t know if we could consistently drive the ball. Our first drive we got into the red zone and scored with like a nine play drive, after that, it was all about the big plays.” Englehart had high praise once again this week for his defense that has now allowed just 35 points this season and only seven in the last three weeks.  “They shut down the run and made them throw the ball and then got the pick-six by Jo Jackson to put the game away.” “The defense has been really good,” he continued. “A big part of that is our defensive staff. The four of those guys work very well together and put a good game plan and work hard on, getting the right personnel out there and making the right calls to stop what the other team is trying to do...