Sports Lowdown

On the field immediately after Saturday's gam e For the first time in the four-year history of the program, the Florida Tech Panthers are Playoff bound! The team finished the regular season with a convincing 42-16 playoff win over the Delta State Statesmen at Florida Tech Panther Stadium. The victory gave the Panthers their eighth win of the season, setting a school record. They finished 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Gulf South Conference. “It’s obviously awesome and it’s great for the seniors,” said Florida Tech coach Steve Englehart after the game. “We’re playing bonus ball now and they get another game that wasn’t promised to them. They worked for it, they earned it.” Things didn’t get off to the best start for the Panthers, as they gifted Delta State two points on an attempted punt. The high snap that went out of the end zone and put the visitors on top with 13:37 left in the first quarter. After giving up the safety, the Florida Tech offense kicked it into h...

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...

The Florida Tech Panthers and West Alabama Tigers put on an offensive show in their Gulf South Conference meeting on Saturday, with the Tigers coming out on top, 45-35. With the loss, the Panthers will likely have to win all three of their remaining games, to make the playoffs. In our conversation with Panthers head coach Steve Englehart on Thursday, he was adamant that if the Panthers won the turnover battle , they would win the game. Unfortunately, the visitors lost four of their five fumbles, including one on the final play of the third quarter that resulted in a scoop and score for West Alabama. This was an 0ld-fashioned shootout from the start, with the teams combining for 1,147 yards of total offense. The Panthers had 643 yards, setting a school record and Quarterback Mark Cato passed for 502 yards, also a school record. On just about any other day, those numbers would translate into a win, but on this day, the turnovers kept that from happening. “You’re not goi...

West Florida's Blue Wahoos Stadium/Jerry Durney The Florida Tech Panthers gave away a very winnable game Saturday night, losing 42-39 to the West Florida Argonauts, who are in their inaugural season. With the win, the Argos kept the first-ever Coastal Classic trophy in Pensacola. It was not a good night for the Panthers for much of the game, but to their credit, they did fight back in the fourth quarter, outscoring West Florida 22-14. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, as the Panthers undefeated start and their #16 ranking both fell by the wayside. The Panthers (4-1) had given up 35 points combined in their first four games, but on this night, the upstart Argos forced Florida Tech into making mistakes and took advantage of them. The Panthers had a season high 15 penalties for 118 yards, many of them self-inflicted. The defense that had been playing lights out in the previous four games, just couldn’t find their footing in this game, as the Argos put up 4...