Box Score

VALDOSTA, Ga. – For the second consecutive week, turnovers plagued the UWF football team. This time a 20-0 deficit and seven miscues were the Argonauts' undoing in a 40-28 loss at No. 25 Valdosta State in the first-ever Gulf South Conference game in program history.
 
Quarterback Kaleb Nobles threw five interceptions and lost two fumbles on the evening. The former Valdosta State signal caller threw for 323 yards and found Ishmel Morrow 10 times on Saturday night, going for a total of 156 yards. Both marks for Morrow were game-highs, and it was his second consecutive game with double-digit catches. 
 
West Florida (2-2, 0-1 GSC) outgained Valdosta State 379-340 overall and 385-210 in the air. The UWF defense dominated for large portions of the game, including the fourth quarter when the Blazers were held to just 24 total yards. 
 
The Argo defense entered the game tied for first nationally in tackles for loss and didn't do anything ti halt that stat line, finishing with six sacks and two more tackles for loss.
 
In the first quarter, the VSU offense was clicking on all cylinders, as the Blazers put together an 89-yard, 13-play opening drive that culminated with a 27-yard pass to Donovan Bolden. Nobles completed his first two passes on the following Argonaut drive, but the team would not connect for a first down and went three-and-out to open things up offensively.
 
The Blazers scored on the second drive as well, despite some trouble with penalties. Quarterback Roland Rivers twice found VSU receivers for touchdowns that were called back due to an illegal procedure penalty and another illegal formation penalty, respectively. Following those two penalties, Rivers took the ball in himself for a touchdown, and after a failed two-point conversion attempt, the score stood at 13-0 in favor of VSU halfway through the first quarter.
 
UWF's misfortune continued on the next drive, when VSU was able to pick up another seven points on a fumble recovery that Brandon Roe ran into the end zone from 13 yards.
 
Things turned around shortly after, however, as redshirt freshman Grey Jackson found freshman Tate Lehtio for a touchdown from the 4-yard line to cap off a five-play, 15-yard drive to make the score 20-7 late in the first.
 
The tide started to turn for UWF in the back end of the second quarter. The defense allowed Valdosta State to advance just 25 yards on the final three Blazer drives of the quarter, while the Argonauts put together drives of 53 and 65 yards in the final six minutes of the first half.
 
The teams traded scoreless drives throughout most of the second quarter, with UWF ultimately cutting the deficit to 20-14 with 2:35 remaining in the half. The drive began with the first of two long completions from Nobles to Ishmel Morrow. The pair connected for 37 yards before getting together for a 24-yard pass that reached the VSU 4-yard line just two plays later. After a pass interference call gave UWF a first down on the 2, Nobles faked a handoff to Chris Schwarz and pushed his way into the end zone to jump within six points of the Blazers.
 
UWF opened the second half with a drive deep into VSU territory, which included a 25-yard pass from Nobles to Antoine Griffin. The drive would end on a 35-yard field goal attempt that missed wide left.
 
West Florida took over again with 9:08 on the clock in the third quarter at its own 18. Nobles was sacked for 12 yards and threw an interception to Jeray Demby, who ran it back to the 1-yard line. Cedric Hollingshed punched it in for VSU on the following play to stretch the VSU lead to 27-14.
 
UWF struck back quickly with an 80-yard drive that took just 2:12 to complete. Again, Nobles completed a long pass to begin the drive, this one finding Lehtio for 35 yards. Nobles later took to the ground for a 13-yard gain on 3rd-and-1, and he finished off the drive with an 18-yard pass to Griffin for the sophomore's fifth catch of the day and third touchdown of the season.
 
Nobles connected with senior Anas Hasic for 17 yards to start a drive with 5:05 left in the third and with the Argoanuts trailing 27-21. After a one-yard run from redshirt freshman Tim Bellinger, Nobles connected with Hasic again for a 29-yard catch in the far left corner of the end zone to give UWF its first lead of the game, 28-27.
 
Valdosta State took the lead right back on the next drive, nickel-and-diming the UWF defense for 70 yards across eight plays and just less than three minutes grabbing a 33-28 advantage.
 
After several back-and-forth drives, Valdosta State took over at the UWF 36 with 5:00 remaining in the fourth quarter. Two VSU penalties and a two-yard pass later, Marvin Conley intercepted the long ball from Roland Rivers. With things looking like they were going UWF's way, Raymond Palmer picked off a pass from Nobles at the 50-yard line, the seventh Argonaut turnover of the game 
 
The Blazers capped things off with a one-yard touchdown run from Jordan Germany in the final minute.
 
UWF will return home next week where it will play host to No. 19/24 Florida Tech (4-0, 2-0). Kickoff at Blue Wahoos Stadium is set for 6:00 p.m. Central time and the game will be televised nationally by the American Sports Network as part fo the NCAA Division II Game of the Week.