* Records: UWF is 2-1 following last week's 31-19 home loss to Valdosta State. Florida Tech is 3-1 overall and 2-0 in Gulf South Conference play.
* Rankings: Florida Tech is the eighth team receiving votes in the AFCA coaches poll.
THE COACHES
* UWF coach Pete Shinnick was hired as the first coach in program history on Feb. 6, 2014. He has a 110-53 career record in 15-plus years, which includes a 50-24 mark at UNC Pembroke from 2007-13 and 53-22 at Azusa Pacific from 1999-05.
* Florida Tech coach Steve Englehardt is in his fifth season and has led the Panthers to a 29-20 record since being hired to start the program in 2011. Prior to his time on the Space Coast, he was the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Indiana State & was the head coach for four years at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, compiling a 26-14 mark.
ABOUT UWF
UWF is 2-1 on the season following last week's 30-19 loss to Valdosta State. The Argonauts finished with 378 yards of total offense but struggled to find the endzone for most of the night leading to sophomore PK Austin Williams hitting 4-of-5 field goals.
Sophomore QB Mike Beaudry completed 20 of his 40 passes for 293 yards to nine different receivers last week. Beaudry has connected on 55 percent of his passes and averaged 211 yards per game. He is doing a solid job of spreading the ball around, with at least seven players catching at least one ball each contest and nine different players logging a catch in the last two games.
The running game has steadily improved, led by sophomore Chris Schwarz. He has 142 yards on the ground over 45 carries, including 50 last week.
Junior Antoine Griffin is pacing the Argos receiving corps with 15 catches for 252 yards. Last week he had five catches for 109 yards, his fourth career 100-plus yard game. Three players are tied with two catches on the year.
Senior LB Sam Adams led the Argo defense vs Valdosta with 10 tackles giving him 21 on the season. Graduate DB Josh Marshall has two interceptions on the season with one being returned for a 31 yard touchdown in UWF's home opener vs Chowan.
ABOUT FLORIDA TECH
Florida Tech enters the game with a 3-1 overall record and a perfect mark in a pair of Gulf South Conference contests, recording shutout victories over Shorter and Mississippi College the last two weeks.
The Panthers offer a very balanced attack (129 rushes/115 pass attempts) and are averaging 422 yards of total offense and 32.8 points per game.
FIT possesses one of the best rushing games in the GSC, posting 179.5 yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry. Antwuan Haynes (97.3 ypg) and Gary Holmes (30.5 ypg) both average at least 6,8 yards per carry.
Mark Cato has thrown for 572 yards on 45-of-75 passing with three INT and three TD. He is averaging 190.7 yards per game through the air and 18 ypg on the ground.
Marquise Lewis leads the defense with 27 tackles, three for loss, two sacks and three pass break-ups. The defensive unit ranks 12th nationally in scoring defense at 12.0 ppg, but has allowed just six points to its three non-Division I opponents and the lone TD came on a pick-6 by the Shorter defense.
UWF-FLORIDA TECH SERIES HISTORY
A year ago, UWF made its biggest splash as a first-year program with a 42-39 upset of then-No. 16/19-ranked Florida Tech before a national TV audience as part of the D2 Football Showcase Game of the Week.
UWF collected 458 yards of total offense and 360 through the air in claiming the inaugural Coastal Classic.
The Argonauts scored 21 points in each half against the Panthers, who entered the game ranked second in the country, yielding just 8.8 points per game. Additionally, UWF collected three red zone scores against an FIT group that had allowed just three successful efforts all season.
Kaleb Nobles was 23-of-42 with a pair of touchdown passes. Nobles also ran for a score. Grey Jackson was 1-for-4 and completed a 65-yard scoring strike to Ishmel Morrow in the second quarter that gave the Argonauts the lead for good as they scored 21-unanswered for a 21-7 advantage at halftime.
Mark Cato threw three TD and three INT as he was 22-for-40 with 310 yards. He was also sacked three times. Antwuan Hayes had 78 yards on 13 carries.
THE COASTAL CLASSIC TROPHY
The teams will play for the Coastal Classic Trophy, which stands 24 inches tall on a six-inch wooden base. It features a large bronze anchor and 6-pointed ship's wheel with nautical sailing rope as the focal point of the trophy. A small bell is attached to the anchor with a white segment of sailing rope attached its clapper.
SPACE COAST HOMECOMING
While UWF head coach Pete Shinnick has said the program's recruiting footprint starts in Northwest Florida, it's net stretches from Tuscaloosa to Tampa. As a result, the Argonauts have two distinct regions that have accounted for the make-up on the team's personnel - Northwest Florida and Central Florida.
Tonight's game will be a direct homecoming for sophomore WR Kevin Grant, who is from Melbourne and played at Melbourne HS - a rival of Palm Bay. Additionally, Jamel Jackson, Ja'Maal Eveillard, Antoine Griffin and Asante Griffin attended high school in Cocoa/Cocoa Beach. Jayson King hails from Vero Beach, just under an hour south of Melbourne.
Of the 60 players who will make the trip Saturday, 32 are from within three hours of Melbourne.
COACH TO CURE MD 2017
UWF head coach Pete Shinnick and his staff are joining coaches across the country today in wearing a patch on their left arms to help defeat a terrible genetic disorder. It's called Coach To Cure M-D.
The American Football Coaches Association is working to raise awareness and research funding to cure Duchenne (doo-SHEN) Muscular Systrophy, the most prolific gentic killer diagnosed in childhood.
Fans can support the cause by either:
* Go online to CoachToCureMD.org
* or text the word "CURE" to 50555 to donate $10 on your next mobile phone bill.
RECAPPING THE VALDOSTA ST. LOSS
* UWF reached the red zone five times but was only able to convert those chances into a school-record four field goals while falling 30-19.
* UWF outgained Valdosta State, 378-300, but fell behind 21-0 early in the second quarter. QB Mike Beaudry finished the night with a career-high 293 yards on 20-for-40 with one touchdown and one interception.
* Junior Antoine Griffin led all receivers with six catches for 109 yards, while sophomore Gage Krull hauled in the only touchdown for the Argos late in the fourth quarter.
* Sophomore kicker Austin Williams had a career night, setting three school records with four field goals, a long of 41 yards and 13 points by a kicker. He connected on field goals from 37, 23 and 41 yards in the final 6:49 of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 21-9 at the half. His 27-yarder 5:29 into the third pulled the Argonauts to within 21-12, but they wouldn't get any closer.
RECAPPING THE CHOWAN WIN
* UWF tied a school record with 51 points in the 51-23 win over Chowan two weeks ago.
* UWF scored 30 points after halftime, its highest second-half total in program history and the second-highest in a half (34 in 1st at Delta State in 2016).
* UWF scored a TD on offense, defense and special teams in the same game for the first time in program history.
UWF SACK COMPANY
The Argonauts have had a great deal of success since starting the program with getting into the offensive backfield and disrupting the opposing quarterbacks. A year ago, UWF averaged 3.55 sacks per game which ranked 11th nationally, and this year rank 17th overall with 3.3 sacks per game. They have led the GSC both seasons.
Senior LB Reggie Barnes, along with sophomores Andre Duncombe and Stephen Mathews are currently tied for 80th in the country and third in the GSC with 1.0 spg.
KICK RETURN GAME STRONG
The Argonauts possess some of the most dynamic kick and punt returners in the country in the trio of Marcus Clayton, Antoine Griffin and Caleb Robinson. Clayton (24.8 ypr) and Robinson (22.5 ypr) have combined for a 24.4 kickoff return average to rank first in the GSC and ninth in the country, while Griffin's 10.4 punt return average is 32nd in the country and fifth in the GSC. When combining the 30 yards from the blocked punt two weeks ago against Chowan, UWF's season average of 12.8 is sixth in the league and 34th in the NCAA.
UWF PLAYING SMART
UWF has committed just 18 penalties through three games, ranking first in the GSC and 11th in the NCAA in fewest penalties. Additionally, the 136 penalty yards are the ninth fewest in the country.
END OF HALF EFFICIENCY PAYING OFF
UWF has scored on its final possession of the first half in all three games this year. Against Missouri S&T, the team went 79 yards in 7 plays over 1:45 to score on a 25-yard Beaudry-to-Rodney Coates TD with 6 seconds left. Last week versus Chowan, UWF, needed just 41 seconds and two plays to cover 64 yards as Ka'Ron Ashley hauled in a 9-ayrd pass from Beaudry with 32 seconds to play. Last week, after converting a pop-up kick and recovering it at the Valdosta State 33 with 15 seconds left, the Argos used three plays before kicking a school-record-long 41-yarder as time expired.
BEAUDRY SETTLING IN AT QB
UWF redshirt sophomore QB Mike Beaudry has done a solid job in three games as a starter, throwing for 634 yards on 51-of-93 with six TD and two INT.
Beaudry led UWF to a 20-16 road win in his first career game in the opener at Missouri S&T. In his first career start, he threw for 192 yards on 20-of-31 with two TD. He executed the 2-minute offense to perfection late in the first half, leading the team on a 7-play, 79-yard drive over 1:45 that ended on a 25-yard TD pass to Rodney Coates with 6 seconds left, putting UWF back in front 13-7. He was 5-for-6 on the drive with three completions for at least 20 yards. He later found Gage Krull on a 13-yard scoring strike early in the fourth quarter that broke a tie and put UWF ahead 20-13.
He opened his career with a string of 43 pass attempts without an INT before throwing one in the second quarter against Chowan. He responded in a big way though, completing his next five passes before closing the game 6-of-8 for 88 yards.
Last week he had a career day in terms of stats, throwing for 293 yards on 20-of-40.
The Oviedo, Fla. native gained notoriety as the first National Letter of Intent received during the Feb. 2015 Signing Day as UWF secured its first class of prep signees. He sat out the 2015 season with the rest of the team as a redshirt year, but then missed all of 2016 while rehabbing from a broken fibula that occurred during Spring 2016 camp - meaning his game action this season was his first since November 2014.
SCHWARZ NEARS CAREER HIGH AGAINST CHOWAN
UWF sophomore RB Chris Schwarz finished with 58 yards on 14 carries two weeks ago against Chowan. A game after setting a career-high with 19 carries at Missouri S&T, he nearly surpassed his yardage benchmark of 61, set at Delta State and at North Alabama last season.
He currently leads the team with 142 yards on 45 rushes with 2 TD. He had 69 carries for 350 and 2 TD in 2016.
The bruising back from New Port Richey, Fla., has four runs 20-plus yards in his career, with a long of 24 vs. Florida Tech in 2016.
Last week he registered his longest pass reception with a screen pass that went for 52 yards.
GRIFFIN LOOKING TO LEAD WR CORPS
Redshirt junior WR Antoine Griffin has emerged as the top receiving target for the UWF quarterbacks, catching 15 balls for 252 yards through the first three games. He is averaging 84.0 yards per game and 16.8 yards per catch.
The Tampa native who attended Cocoa HS (just north of Melbourne) before moving back to Tampa after graduation, is averaging 10.4 yards on 7 punt returns this season with a 31-yard and 20-yard run to his credit. He was named to the Preseason All-GSC team as one of two return specialists.
In 2016, he was third on the team in receptions (43), receiving TD (7) and reception yards (560). He also returned 18 punts 240 yards for a 13.3 return average, including a career-long 35-yarder at Valdosta State.
BAMBI THUMPS HIS WAY INTO NCAA TOP PLAYS
Redshirt freshman WR Ka'Ron Ashley had quite an exciting first career game two weeks ago against Chowan, bringing in two catches for 27 yards, with both going for TD. He caught one ball while leaping high on the sideline last week but was ruled that he came down out of bounds.
Against Chowan, his first came from 9 yards out late in the first quarter where he beat his defender by a good five yards. But it was his second ball that turned heads when he jumped and caught a 19-yard pass from Mike Beaudry by jumping high and coming down with a foot just inches inside the back corner of the end zone for a TD with 32 seconds to play in the half. That catch earned the No. 3 top play among NCAA Division II Football for Week No. 3.
The Jacksonville, Fla. native who was home-schooled as a youngster, sat out the 2016 season as a redshirt but earned the nickname 'Bambi' after a coach commented on his leaping ability in a film session during the year.
BARNES RELISHING FINAL SEASON
UWF senior Reggie Barnes currently ranks 13th in the GSC with 20 tackles through three games. He also has two sacks to rank fourth in the GSC.
The Odessa, Fla. native finished last season as a senior but still had one semester of eligibility remaining. He made the decision to sit out the spring semester and come back this year for a final season of college ball. Barnes started his career at Air Force where he appeared in 21 games in 2012-13 before eventually transferring to UWF for the 2015 redshirt season.
A CoSIDA Academic All-District and GSC All-Academic selection last season, Barnes ranked third on the team in 2016 with 67 tackles and added six tackles for loss, six QB hurries and a pass break-up.
JOSH MARSHALL MAKING HIS MARK
UWF graduate transfer Josh Marshall has made an immediate impact on the Argonauts since joining the program as a transfer from Troy in August.
The Lawrenceville, Georgia product ranks fourth on the team with 18 tackles and is 20th in the country with two interceptions. He had an interception in the opener at Missouri S&T and started the scoring for UWF two weeks ago versus Chowan with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Against Missouri S&T he finished with a career-high tying seven tackles, an interception and a pass break up. But his biggest play was one where he didn't actually record a statistic. With Missouri S&T driving for a potential go-ahead and possibly game-winning score and 40 seconds remaining, he hit Miners RB Deshawn Jones in the lower part of his body at the 1-yard line, just as Martes Wheeler hit Jones high from behind, forcing a fumble into the end zone where Trent Archie recovered it and clinched the victory for UWF.
Marshall played at Iowa Central CC as a freshman, before transferring to Troy the past two seasons. He made 46 stops in 25 games while playing at CB in 2015 and MLB in 2016 for the Trojans.
NORRIS THRIVING IN PUNTER ROLE
In 2016, UWF battled a number of injuries and inconsistency with the punting poosition, finishing the year ranked 136 in the country with a 30.83 net punting average.
This year has seen true freshman Colton Norris step in and put up some booming kicks that have resulted in a 31.8 net punt average, which ranks 57th overall and fourth in the GSC. The Niceville, Fla. native has a 37.3 yards per punt average and has put four inside the 20-yard line and four have been fair caught.
BARNES, DUNCOMBE & GRIFFIN NAMED TO GSC PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
A year after winning five games and finishing in sixth place in the Gulf South Conference in its first-ever season, the UWF football team was picked seventh in the 2017 Preseason Coaches Poll as announced by the league office in July.
Additionally, senior Reggie Barnes, sophomore Andre Duncombe and junior Antoine Griffinwere selected to the preseason all-GSC team by the league's nine head coaches. Barnes and Duncombe were among the four linebackers on the team, while Griffin was one of two return specialists chosen.
Barnes ranked third on the team with 67 tackles and added six tackles for loss, six QB hurries and a pass break-up. Duncombe making 51 tackles and was second on the team with 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks a year ago. Griffin was a standout receiver for the Argos, finishing with 560 yards on 43 receptions and seven touchdowns. He also returned 18 punts for a 13.33 yard average and eight kickoffs for a 20.5 yard average.
NORTHWEST FLORIDA PLAYERS MAKE UP NEARLY 25 PERCENT OF THE 2017 ROSTER
The influx of local talent has been more evident this season, with 23 players out of Northwest Florida's six county region from Escambia to Washington and Bay. An additional six student-athletes are within a 2-hour drive of Pensacola.
POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE
UWF has three members of its team who earned their bachelor's degrees in 2017. K Luke Jackson graduated from Missouri with a degree in sports administration; DB Josh Marshallgraduated from Troy with a criminal justice degree; and DB Jalen Spencer graduated from South Florida.
