Sports Lowdown

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...

Brandon Ziarno and Antwuan Haynes - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech football team gave their fans a glimpse of what the 2017 squad will look like, as they played their annual Spring game Friday night at Florida Tech Panther Stadium. The game was comprised of 85 plays, with the offense taking on the defense. The defense ultimately came out on top, 35-28. “I thought it was a fairly exciting scrimmage, had some big plays, had some long runs,” said head coach Steve Englehart. “I thought a lot of people did a lot of good things and there’s still a lot of things to work from, as well.” The defense was spotted 28 points to start the game and they could earn different combinations of points, depending on where they made stops and turnovers they forced. The offensive scoring system was conventional, but they had a long way to go to dig out of that hole. Running back Antwuan Haynes , who finished with 87 yards on 17 carries.got the offense on the b...