NEWBERRY DEFEATS FLORIDA TECH 23-19

TECH TO HOST West Alabama THURSDAY NIGHT

NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA – One week after Florida Tech made its much anticipated home debut, and exciting come-from-behind 20-13 victory over Stetson, the Panthers played their first NCAA Division II opponent on the road against Newberry College in South Carolina today.

In a defensive battle, the Panthers lost 23-19 to the Wolves who are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their football program this season. In the game’s most thrilling play, former Cocoa Tiger Trai Cadore picked off a pass at the goal line, and took it coast-to-coast for a Tech TD to give the Panthers a 13-7 halftime lead.

Last week’s hero, Brion Asley, opened the scoring for the Panthers with a 35-yard FG at the 9:05 mark in the first quarter, and later booted a 24-yarder. Trevor Sand scored for the Panthers on a 16-yard TD, and finished the day with 64 yards.

Florida Tech drove down the field late and had a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes remaining, but Newberry’s Latavious Williams sacked Bobby Vega on 4th-and-5 to preserve a 23-19 win Saturday afternoon at Setzler Field.

The loss, FIT’s first of its inaugural season, drops the Panthers to 1-1. Newberry remains unbeaten at 2-0.

The Panther defense forced two fumbles and two interceptions. The first interception, hauled in by Cadore inside FIT’s goal line, was returned for a 100-yard touchdown. The score gave FIT a 13-7 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

FIT’s offense, although it didn’t commit a turnover, was held to 231 yards. Its run game, which totaled 206 yards in its first-ever game exactly one week ago, accumulated 75 yards.

“I don’t think there’s been very many times that I’ve been part of a game where we don’t turn the ball over, our defense gets four takeaways and scores a touchdown, and we lose,” head coach Steve Englehart said.

“Percentages and odds say that you don’t lose that game. It’s disappointing. We deserved to win the game. Our kids played extremely, extremely hard. Their coaches were very complementary in how we played.”

Newberry scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to go up 21-13. Trevor Sand helped break a string of three-straight three and outs with a 16-yard touchdown run with 9:13 remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing possession, Newberry looked to be going for a first down on 4th-and-10 from FIT’s 30 until a false start sent out the punting unit. Kyle Clark pinned the Panthers at their seven following a 28-yard punt.

Vega was then sacked for a safety on the third play of the following drive to make the score 23-19.

The defense stood tall one final time to give the offense an opportunity for a late score. The Panthers methodically moved the ball and appeared to be in a good position with a 3rd-and-5 on Newberry’s 16-yard line. However, Vega’s pass intended for Aaron George was incomplete and Williams ended the Panthers’ hopes with a sack on fourth down.

“It hurts when you’re that close and know that you had that many chances,” Englehart said.

“Our field position hurt us. (Davis) Fluker caught the kickoff and stepped out of bounds. He’s young, he made a mistake and he’ll learn from it. We were just backed up a lot and the defense had to play in their territory a lot. If you look at it, I would guess their average starting field position was around midfield. Our average starting field position was probably inside the 15-yard line.”

Chris Stapleton led the defense with 13 tackles. Justin Arcune forced one of the fumbles and Steven Thomas came up with the game’s second interception. Stapleton and Tyler Grow both had two tackles for a loss.

“We played hard-nosed football,” Cadore said about the defense. “Everyone did their assignments, stayed humbled and hungry throughout the game. We had four defensive turnovers. You can’t get any better than that. We need to stay hungry and continue to have the passion to win.”

“I knew the quarterback was going to throw that pass,” he said about his touchdown interception return. “I bit on it and it was right in front of me. All I then saw was the end zone.”

Vega finished 9-of-19 with 99 passing yards. Sand carried the ball 14 times for 64 yards. Jarvis Giles averaged eight yards per carry on four touches. Newberry’s defensive line held the Panthers to an average 2.1 yards per rushing attempt.

NEWBERRY GAME NOTES

• The Panthers’ captains were Justin Arcune, Collin O’Neal, Sean Ashley and Ramsey Sellers.
• Florida Tech wore its white uniforms for the first time.
• FIT scored first, with a Brion Ashley field goal at the 9:50 mark of the first quarter.
• Brion Ashley has now scored the Panthers’ first six points in both of their games.
• Trai Cadore’s interception and interception for a touchdown were the first in program history.
• Tevin Kirkland registered the program’s first sack, a five-yard loss.
• Chris Stapleton’s 13 tackles are the most any Panther has recorded in a single-game through two games.

CLICK HERE FOR THE GAME BOX SCORE & STATS 

TICKETS REMAIN FOR FLORIDA TECH’S NATIONAL TV GAME ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 19

Steve Englehart and his Panthers are on the fast track in preparation for their next game as they will host the defending Gulf South Conference Champion West Alabama in a nationally televised contest on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. ET. Single-game general admission tickets remain for the first-ever meeting on the gridiron.

Approximately 1,000 seats are available in Sections 1, 8, 9 and 10 at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium. Single-game general admission tickets are just $10 for adults and $5 for FIT faculty and staff with school ID, seniors ages 65 and above, children ages 5-16 and active duty military with ID. Children under five years of age are free.

Tickets for next Thursday and all five remaining home games are available online at FloridaTechSports.com, by dialing 321-674-6228 and at the Clemente Center Ticket Office Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

FIRST-EVER GULF SOUTH CONFERENCE GAME

The game against West Alabama is the Panthers’ first-ever Gulf South Conference contest. In last week’s American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Coaches’ Poll, the Tigers rank No. 12.

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS NOW
CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE 2013 SCHEDULE

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FLORIDA TECH GAME NOTES

NEWBERRY GAME STATS & SCORING

FIRST QUARTER:
• FLORIDA TECH: Brion Asley 35-yard FG at 9:05
– Florida Tech 3, Newberry 0

SECOND QUARTER:
• NEWBERRY: Murden TD pass to Dikerson
– Newberry 7, Florida Tech 3

• FLORIDA TECH: Trai Cadore, 100-yard interception return
– Florida Tech 13, Newberry 7

THIRD QUARTER:
• NEWBERRY: Westley Brown 2-yard TD run
– Newberry 14, Florida Tech 13
• NEWBERRY: Romelo Doctor 14-yard TD run
– Newberry 21, Florida Tech 13

FOURTH QUARTER:
• FLORIDA TECH: Sands 2-yard TD run
– Newberry 14, Florida Tech 19
• NEWBERRY: Saftey
– Newberry 23, Florida Tech 19

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