First Reaction Mississippi College
And just like that, a new win streak is born, hopefully this one is as fun as the last. West Florida ran away from the Choctaws of Mississippi College last night 63-28, after going into halftime in a dead heat 28-28. It was a tight game through the half, with the teams finishing with similar yards (302-273) and first downs (15-18) along with the 4 TDs. But the second half was a totally different ballgame, with UWF scoring five unanswered TDs on consecutive drives of 53, 75, 92, 43, and 53 yards. The third quarter is where the Argos were able to really break MC, scoring 21 points allowing none and winning the yardage differential 220-64. The 4th wasn’t much better finishing 119-19 and 14-0 on the scoreboard with UWF getting the backups in for the final two drives.
Austin Reed continued his campaign for best player in D2 this year, putting up another 300+ yard 4 TD game, and minted a brand new GSC star in the process in Junior WR Larry Rembert (more on him later). The ground game wouldn’t be upstaged this week (297 yards 4 TD 9.9 yards per carry). Shomari Mason lead the way with a career day (179 yards 3 TD 14.9 yards per carry) and one of the most exciting runs of the season for the Argos on his 73 yard scamper in the 2nd half. The defense struggled early with the triple option (243 yards 3 TD 6.2 yards per carry first half), particularly when MC was able to get the ball to the pitch man on the edge, but settled in in the second half (83 yards 3.6 yards per carry). DJ Artis got home on a sack, and the defense forced 5 punts and two turnovers in the second half.
Triple Option Nightmare
That first half was just exactly what MC wanted, and bludgeoned the defense for 30 minutes of the game. DeAnte’ Smith-Moore lead a methodical offense that converted on four consecutive drives including back to back to back 75 yard TD drives in the first half. The Choctaws ran the ball 38 times for 239 yards in the first half, but what really hurt the Argonauts was allowing 5 of 7 on 3rd down and 1 of 1 on 4th down conversion attempts. Even when the Argos were ahead of the sticks, MC was able to convert, specifically on a 4th down and medium conversion in the first half. It was really a testament to how well they had that system working in the first half. The Choctaws were lead by QB Smith-Moore, who had 92 yards on 19 attempts as well as a TD, and Cole Fagan the Fullback who also had 19 attempts for 80 yards. Those steady carries were supplemented by the two pitch men who combined for 14 carries 122 yards and 2 more TD on the ground. Going into half they had to feel good about how their offense had kept up with the Argos quick strike attack.
This offense did what it was designed to, especially when facing a fast pace team like the Argos. They kept UWF off the field for long swaths, with drives of 9, 8, 12, and 9 plays and controlling first half TOP 20:45 out of 30 minutes. They stiffened up when needed though, going punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, punt, fumble in the second half defending just 26 plays and forcing 3 three and outs. That second half defensive stand has been a pretty constant feature of the Argonauts defense this year, and most impressively in the 3rd quarter where they have allowed just 16 points all season long.. Shea Campbell unsurprisingly lead the way, finishing with 9 tackles (7 solo), while D’Anthony Bell and Will Breland both finished with 6 tackles. The big issues the Argos faced in the first half was inability to get to guys off-tackle or outside. Most of the up the middle stuff was getting cleaned up for short gains, but second and third level defenders were just to late getting to the pitch man or to outside runs for Smith-Moore and Fagan. In the second half, that help was getting there faster, and started to work with a lead instead of in a tied game.
The Larry Rembert Show
West Florida has had a great run of Wide Receiver talent in the short history of the program, but the current group may be the best batch of players the program has ever fielded. We knew what we were bringing back with Rodney Coates and Ka’Ron Ashley, proven, tested playmakers in the GSC, but there have been a series of breakout performances from newcomers this year. The latest came from Junior Larry Rembert, who came to the Argos from Mobile by way of two years at Pima CC. Rembert has been a solid contributor so far this season racking up 137 yards and 1 TD, with three multi-catch games on the year. When it came up #16 in the game of pass catcher roulette this week, Rembert did not disappoint.
He finished the game with 6 catches 184 yards 3 TD, leading all WR in all three categories. He started out from play one on offense, Rembert lining up in the slot and simply finding space between the LB and the Safeties then tough running gets 19 more yards of YAC. He broke multiple tackles and it took a couple Choctaws to finally wrestle him down. It was a sign of things to come for the Argos passing game in general, but specifically with Rembert. Rembert finished with a 30.7 yards per catch average, on his six targets he scored three times and converted 1st downs on the other three. Each reception went for at least 25 yards. He caught back to back 26 and 25 yard receptions in the 2nd quarter, the second ending in a TD. Both post routes, both great throws by Reed, but the first was a tremendous grab by Rembert snagging a bullet in stride, shielding the ball from the Safety. The next play he runs a nearly identical post route and walks into the end zone untouched.
His performance marks team season highs for yards (184) and ties a school record of 3 TD which was also tied by Ka’Ron Ashley against West Georgia. Rembert becomes the fifth West Florida pass catcher to have at least 3 catches 110 yards 2 TD in a single game, joining Coates (SBU), Durden (Delta), Ashley (UWG), and Smith (Shorter). Rembert is now fourth on the team in receptions (17), yards (321), TD (4), and average (18.9). This comes a week after Jared Smith torched Shorter for 113 yards and 2 TD, another pass catcher who basically doubled their yearly production in one game. These guys have really stepped up in the absence of David Durden over the last two weeks, and have shored up a five deep group that is as good as any in the country.
Run Game Goes Off
The offense was on fire last night, they finished with 641 total yards an all time record for the program, smashing the previous record of 577 yards set in 2018 against Shorter. The pass game was as expected very good, Reed going for a better than season average 344 yards and 64% completion percentage, but the run game absolutely exploded on the back of Shomari Mason. The run game was good when you exclude Mason, with Newton, Johnson Jr., and Reed accumulating 116 yards and 2 TD on 8.9 yards per carry. Johnson Jr. had runs of 13 and 16 yards en route to a 44 yard performance, and Newton ground out 53 yards and an impressive TD run late in the game, where he fought down the sideline for the score. It was good running for everyone, but Mason was electric.
He finished with career high marks in yards (179) and TD (3) and averaged a blistering 14.9 per carry. His explosion was the second best rushing performance of the season by any GSC player, and it is his second game in a row averaging over 14 yards per carry. He was having a good night 9 rushes for 91 yards and 2 TD, then he broke off a crazy 73 yard run, breaking a tackle and juking two guys out of their shoes in the process. He finished the game with five runs of 10 or more yards, over 40% of his touches went for 10+ yards.
The team total 297 yards, an all time rushing record for UWF, breaking the previous record of 264 yards set in their very first game as a program against Ave Maria back in 2016. It was the 9th best rushing performance by a GSC team this year, and 6th best in conference play. Mississippi College was giving up 168 yards per game coming into the contest and had only allowed one team to rush for more than 200 yards against them, but West Florida handed them their second worst rushing total of the season. MC’s run heavy option offense finished with just 29 more yards than the pass happy Argos.
