Sports Lowdown

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...

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...

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...

Coming off a win in the opening game of the season against Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday, the Florida Tech Women’s Soccer squad was back at it Sunday, against West Florida in the Marriot Doubletree Panther Invitational. Keira McCarthy scored both goals for the Panthers in a 2-1 victory over The University of West Florida Argonauts. It was a measure of revenge for Florida Tech, who had lost to the Argos in the two previous meetings. The last of those was a 2-1 loss in the NCAA tournament back in 2013. Sunday’s game didn’t have quite the same stakes, but a regional win is certainly always nice to get early and the women did just that. The first half was scoreless, with West Florida getting the best of the offensive possession, but Florida Tech getting more scoring chances. Florida Tech did get a good chance about halfway through, as Aubri Williamson got into the Argos end and she had a one-on-one for a time, but her shot was saved by West Florida goalie Elizabeth Ban...