Sports Lowdown

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...

Brandon Ziarno - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers opened their 2017 season on Saturday night, earning their second straight home opener shutout. FIT got contributions from all three phases of the game, en route to a 44-0 drubbing of the Virginia-Lynchburg Dragons. The 44 point margin is the largest in the five-year history of the Panthers. Florida Tech (1-0) took a while to get their legs under them, as they led 10-0 at the half. A 15-yard run by Antwuan Haynes and a 20-yard run by starting quarterback Brandon Ziarno highlighted the Panthers opening drive, which culminated in a 20-yard field goal by Kyle Gullikson . “Offensively we started slow, we didn't do things we needed to do early on,” said Florida Tech coach Steve Englehart. “We were adjusting to what we were seeing on defense and that had something to do with it, but ultimately, we just needed to get going and sped up the tempo a little bit.” The Panthers looked primed to scor...

Photo credit: James Ragan Photography T he Florida Tech Panthers have gone through spring practices, training camp and all the grueling work that goes with it. This Saturday, all that hard work will pay off, as the Panthers open their season at home, against Virginia University of Lynchburg.   “We've had a good camp, a tough camp,” said Florida Tech head coach Steve Englehart. “We've asked a lot of them and you can talk about wins and talk about championships all you want, but what it really comes down to is focusing on the process of getting there. You gotta love the practice if you're on this football team and you gotta love coming out here and try to get better every day and that's what our guys have done.”   Englehart admits that he's not sure if his team is where he wants them, but they are getting there. “We don't know a lot about Lynchburg, but we gotta get out there and play a game and we'll evaluate from there.”   Other than th...

Photo credit: James Ragan Photography With the Spring game just two days away, Sportslowdown.com sat down with Florida Tech Panthers head football coach Steve Englehart, to get his early thoughts on the Panthers 2017 season. With an 8-3 record, including five wins in the Gulf South Conference, the Panthers are coming off their first ever playoff appearance in 2016, the Panthers are primed to make another run through the Gulf South Conference and get back to the postseason in 2017. “Expectations are high as always, you wanna get out there and compete each and every week,” said Englehart. “Hopefully at the end of the season you’re sitting there with a chance to win the conference and go to the playoffs. My expectations haven’t changed from that since we started.” Englehart said from a philosophical standpoint, within the program, not much has changed, but he has added a team seminar to their Friday activities, dealing with character development and leadership develop...

The Florida Tech Panthers took to the field for practice on Thursday and the first impression out of the gate is that head coach Steve Englehart runs a tight ship. The players were attentive (even at 7:30 a.m.) and the practice ran very smoothly, as the team ran through multiple situations for much of the morning. As expected, there were mistakes made in certain scenarios and the coaches dealt with them immediately. There were also some good things done and they were praised accordingly. In short, it was a typical practice, with players who were tested and very attentive. With about 15 minutes left, the music was cranking and things loosened up just a bit. Overall, a mix of business-like atmosphere, with a little bit of fun sprinkled in. The unexpected news came after practice when Englehart was asked about his number one wide receiver Romell (‘Melo) Guerrier , who suffered a wrist injury in the opening week win over Newberry on Saturday. “He’s out for the seaso...