2019 Florida Tech Panthers football team

The 2019 Florida Tech Panthers football team represented the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) during the 2019 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Steve Englehart. The Panthers played their home games at Florida Tech Panther Stadium, approximately one mile from the Florida Tech campus, and were members of the Gulf South Conference. In May 2020, Florida Tech shut down its football program due to budget cuts that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

2019 Florida Tech Panthers football
Conference	Gulf South Conference
Record	5–6 (3–5 GSC)
Head coach	Steve Englehart (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jayson Martin (7th season)
Defensive coordinator	Aaron Archie/Brian Vaughn (1st season)
Home stadium	Florida Tech Panther Stadium
Seasons ← 2018

2019 Gulf South Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 5 Valdosta State $^		8	–	0					10	–	1
No. 1 West Florida ^		7	–	1					13	–	2
Delta State		5	–	3					6	–	4
West Georgia		4	–	4					6	–	5
Mississippi College		4	–	4					5	–	5
West Alabama		3	–	5					6	–	5
Florida Tech		3	–	5					5	–	6
North Greenville		2	–	6					3	–	7
Shorter		0	–	8					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant Rankings from AFCA Poll

Preseason

Gulf South Conference coaches poll

On August 1, 2019, the Gulf South Conference released their preseason coaches poll with the Panthers predicted to finish in 5th place in the conference.^[2]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Valdosta State	64 (8)
2	West Georgia	55
3	West Alabama	49
4	West Florida	44 (1)
5	Florida Tech	37
6	Delta State	28
7	North Greenville	24
8	Mississippi College	15
9	Shorter	8

Preseason All-Gulf South Conference Team

The Panthers had four players at four positions selected to the preseason all-Gulf South Conference team.^[3]

Offense No players were selected Defense John McClure – DB Special teams No players were selected

Schedule

Florida Tech 2019 football schedule consists of five home and six away games in the regular season. The Panthers will host GSC foes Shorter, West Alabama, West Florida, and West Georgia, and will travel to Delta State, Mississippi College, North Greenville, and Valdosta State.^[4]

The Panthers will host one of the three non-conference games against Fort Valley State from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and will travel to Newberry from the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) and Savannah State also from the SIAC.

Two of the eleven games will be broadcast on ESPN3 and ESPN+, as part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week.^[5]

The Week One game at Savannah State, originally scheduled for September 7, was moved back a day due to Hurricane Dorian.^[6]

The Week Seven game at Valdosta State, originally scheduled for a 3 P.M. kickoff on October 19, was moved back to a 7 P.M. start due to the forecast approach of Tropical Storm Nestor earlier in the day.^[7]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 8	2:00 p.m.	at Savannah State*	Ted Wright Stadium Savannah, GA		W 23-22	3,028
September 14	1:00 p.m.	at Newberry*	Setzler Field Newberry, SC		W 30-28	2,944
September 21	7:00 p.m.	at Delta State	McCool Stadium Cleveland, MS	ESPN3	L 28-30	6,665
September 28	7:00 p.m.	West Georgia	Florida Tech Panther Stadium Melbourne, FL		W 44-10	2,450
October 5	7:00 p.m.	Fort Valley State*	Florida Tech Panther Stadium Melbourne, FL		L 29-33	2,400
October 12	8:00 p.m.	at Mississippi College	Robinson-Hale Stadium Clinton, MS		L 14-34	2,507
October 19	7:00 p.m.	at No. 1 Valdosta State	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA		L 28-55	4,631
October 26	1:00 p.m.	No. 20 West Florida	Florida Tech Panther Stadium Melbourne, FL (Coastal Classic)	ESPN+	L 14-38	2,215
November 2	2:00 p.m.	West Alabama	Florida Tech Panther Stadium Melbourne, FL		L 10-13	878
November 9	1:30 p.m.	at North Greenville	Younts Stadium Tigerville, SC		W 17-14 2OT	3,744
November 16	2:00 p.m.	Shorter	Florida Tech Panther Stadium Melbourne, FL		W 42-3	1,450
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Schedule Source:^[4]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AFCA	RV	RV	RV	—	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Game summaries

At Savannah State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	7	0	3	13	23
Tigers	0	6	0	16	22

At Newberry

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	10	13	7	0	30
Wolves	0	14	0	14	28

At Delta State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	7	7	7	7	28
Statesmen	10	6	11	3	30

West Georgia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wolves	7	3	0	0	10
Panthers	13	14	17	0	44

Fort Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	13	6	14	33
Panthers	10	10	6	3	29

At Mississippi College

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	7	7	0	14
Choctaws	7	7	14	6	34

At Valdosta State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	14	7	0	7	28
Blazers	14	27	0	14	55

West Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Argonauts	7	10	14	7	38
Panthers	0	7	7	0	14

West Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	3	0	10	13
Panthers	10	0	0	0	10

At North Greenville

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Panthers	7	7	0	0	0	3	17
Crusaders	0	0	7	7	0	0	14

Shorter

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawks	0	3	0	0	3
Panthers	14	21	0	7	42

Awards and milestones

Gulf South Conference honors

Five players from Florida Tech were honored as All-GSC selections by the league's coaches.^[8]

Gulf South Conference All-Conference First Team

• Evan Thompson, LB

Gulf South Conference All-Conference Second Team

• Miles Kelly, WR
• Kenny Hiteman, TE
• Tyrone Cromwell, DB
• John McClure, DB

Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Week

• September 30: Mike Diliello, QB ^[9]

Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week

• September 23: Mike Diliello, QB ^[10]
• September 30: Mike Diliello, QB ^[11]

References

1. Rogers, Eric; Neale, Rick (October 26, 2021). "Florida Tech cuts football program, announces layoffs due to COVID-19 impacts". Florida Today. Melbourne, Florida. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
2. "Football Picked Fifth in GSC Preseason Poll". Florida Institute of Technology Department of Athletics. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
3. Gulf South Conference
4. "Englehart Announces 2019 Football Schedule" (Press release). Florida Institute of Technology Department of Athletics. February 14, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
5. "ESPN to Stream Two Football Games this Season". Florida Institute of Technology Department of Athletics. August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
6. "Football's Season Opener Postponed Til Sunday". Florida Institute of Technology Department of Athletics. September 5, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
7. "Homecoming Football Game Moved to 7 p.m. Saturday Evening". Valdosta State University Department of Athletics. October 18, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
8. "GSC Announces 2019 Football All-Conference Awards". Gulf South Conference. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
9. "GSC Football Players of the Week: September 30, 2019". Gulf South Conference. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
10. "GSC Football Players of the Week: September 23, 2019". Gulf South Conference. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
11. "GSC Football Players of the Week: September 30, 2019". Gulf South Conference. Retrieved September 30, 2019.