THE FLORIDA TECH
CRIMSON ISSUE 10
NOV. 10
Inside FIT ranked among top militarized universities Homecoming coverage New track and field head coach hired
Florida Tech beats No. 1 team in the nation Andrew Shipotofsky Sports Editor
When West Georgia (9-1, 5-1 GCS) arrived in Melbourne last Thursday, it appeared as if they were preparing to blow the Panthers (7-1, 5-1 GSC) out on Saturday. Little did they know come Game Day, the Panthers would shock the college football world upsetting the top team in the nation, 28-26. “Maybe next time they wouldn’t spend two days on the beach,” Head Football Coach Steve Englehart said. The game made Florida Tech history when the Panthers beat the No. 1 Division II team in the nation — a powerful feat for a team in its third year of competition history. The Panthers came out with
Photo by Nathaniel Ashton
Florida Tech beat the No. 1 team in the nation, West Georgia, on Saturday’s homecoming game. The game started at 1 p.m. and lasted four hours, including the halftime celebrations and weather setbacks. a fire, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter. Gabe Hughes got Florida Tech going early in the quarter with a 21-yard touchdown catch. That would be the first of two touchdowns from Hughes. “Senior Night,” Hughes said is what drove him. “My last home game in front of these fans, last time I can show out what I can do and just win the game.” On West Georgia’s next possession, the Panther defense forced a quick three-and-out, forcing the Wolves to punt. Tevin Kirkland wouldn’t stand for it — blocked the punt, and ran it back for a 10-yard touchdown. “After I had seen the ball on the ground, I saw the o-lineman right behind me and I said to myself, ‘I know he can’t catch me,’”
Kirkland said. West Georgia made it a game on the following possession, scoring a touchdown, but a missed two-point conversion would come back to haunt the Wolves. On the next drive Mark Cato hit Hughes on a 31-yard pass for his second touchdown of the game. After a key interception late in the second quarter, Cato rushed into the endzone giving the Panthers a demanding lead going into halftime, 28-6. Coming out of halftime, West Georgia came out swinging, scoring 20 unanswered points to pull within two of the Panthers. Things started to look grim as two bolts of lightning jetted across the afternoon sky. At 3:39 p.m., officials announced a 30-minute lightning delay, and
fans cleared the stands. “The good Lord probably saved us a little bit with the lightning delay,” said Englehart. “We were able to just say ‘okay, we get a second chance to start the half. Let’s come out like we did in the first half.’ I thought we did a good job.” Coming out of the delay, Kaleb Leach and a banged up Trevor Sand drove the Panthers right down the field. Just when things looked like they made a turn for the better, Leach fumbled the ball in the end zone. With that, it came down to the defense and a little luck to come away with a win. When asked after the game what this meant, Englehart was very emotional. “I don’t even know what to
say,” Englehart said. “We came out absolutely on fire. I think West Georgia was sleep walking for a little bit there and we were taking advantage. We were fortunate to get out here with a win and I am just proud of our kids.” “It just shows we can beat anyone,” Cato said. “1, 2, 3, it doesn’t matter who you are, we will go there and talk about what happens between the line.” After 24 hours to enjoy this win, the Panthers will get back to work to face off against No. 23 Valdosta State. That game will decide the GSC conference title with Florida Tech very much in it for a piece of the pie and a shot for a race for the National Championship. v
Celedonio electrifies crowd with performance at talent show Allie Wood Staff Writer Students were enraptured by performances on Nov. 5 from crowd favorites like the Street Dance Club and the string quartet where, in a salute to youth, the audience sang along to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” The annual Homecoming Talent Show event is hosted by FIT’s Homecoming Committee and the College Players. This year, about three-quarters of the bleachers and chairs assembled in Clemente Center were filled with students. Students could enter into two competitions, the Talent Show and the Homecoming King and Queen Lip Sync Competition. The audience watched 25 acts sing, dance and play instruments. Graduate student Thomas Rochester and Homecoming Chairperson Rebecca Demczuk were the main hosts of the event. Rochester was the jokester of the night, introducing most acts with a joke and throwing t-shirts to the crowd. The homecoming theme, Around the World, was evident in
the decorations and performances. The lip sync competitors had to come up with a routine based on the theme. Contestants played on a stage surrounded by cutouts of structures from around the world, like the Eiffel Tower and the pyramids of Egypt. The backdrop featured an airplane flying across a sunset-colored globe. Erick Celedonio’s performance on the electronic violin earned him first place in the talent portion of the show. A student in mechanical engineering, Celedonio has been playing the violin for 11 years and started playing the electronic violin last year. “The piece I played was a song I made last year for my high school,” Celedonio said. “I just wrote it to my school because they did a lot for me and I wanted to give it back a good performance. I named it ‘My Beloved Oceanside.’” The second place winners, Ebube Ubochi and Tim Christopher, presented the audience with their take on Drake’s “Hotline
Bling.” Ubochi also played the guitar and sang an original song while Christopher played the keyboard. And although he had a cold, Zack Francais blew the crowd away with his performance of The Hills’ “Can’t Feel My Face,” earning himself third place in the
making a list of the best ones. Then they agreed on the best one, took pictures at FIT Aviation and started putting moves together. “The hardest part was going all at the same time in unison and learning everything at the same time because we couldn’t meet all together, so people had to catch up, but we managed to do it,” said Elena. “I had a lot of fun.” Chi Phi and Alpha Phi were the winners of the lip sync competition. The Carib- Erick Celedonio bean Student Association earned second place. They turned Dora into a talent portion of the show. travel agent that sent their group Celedeonio said, “Just seeing all the different acts you know, I didn’t realize how talented most of the students here were. I enjoyed every other performance, I didn’t really care if I won or lost. It was very fun.” Junior in mechanical engineering, Maria Vittorida Elena, was the queen participant of Chi Phi and Alpha Phi’s lip sync. Elena said they sat around a table throwing out ideas and
“I just wrote it to my school because they did a lot for me and I wanted to give it back a good performance.”
to everywhere except the Caribbean. Swiper the fox even made an appearance. Tau Kappa Epsilon and Gamma Phi Beta came in third place. Winners were given glass globes and a stand with their place etched on it. The base said “Homecoming Talent Show” and the place the contestant won. Demczuk said, “We picked out these horrible twelve-foot globes on top of like a stick, and then someone was like ‘no, we’re getting these.’” v