PENSACOLA-Three years ago, Pete Shinnick began slowly laying the foundation for a brand new football program that has quickly become one of the best success stories in Division II football history.
Brick-by-brick, Shinnick and his staff slowly started recruiting mainly the Pensacola area at first but expanded to the rest of Florida as well. The results have been phenomenal to say the least, as the Argonauts in just their second season became the fastest team to ever qualify for the Division II playoffs.
The Argonauts (7-3, 5-3) finished the regular-season in a 5-way tie for second in the Gulf South Conference with Delta State, West Georgia, Valdosta State and North Alabama.
A 34-29 win over then No. 4 West Georgia in the season finale swayed the NCAA regional advisory committee to invite West Florida as one of seven NCAA regional bids to the Division II playoffs.
Their first time in the playoffs, as the No. 6 seed in Region 2, the Argonauts have shockingly knocked off three straight teams on the road including No. 3 Wingate 30-0, No. 7 West Georgia 17-14 and No. 1 West Alabama 28-21 in the last three weeks.
Now the Argonauts (10-3) are one win away from advancing to the Division II finals only a semifinal game at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (13-0), the only undefeated team left and the only No. 1 seed to make it to the semifinals, stands in their way of advancing to the national title game.
Part of that reason is a signing class which featured 14 young men from the First Coast area including: Rakeem Battle (Sr., DB) from Columbia, Ka’Ron Ashley (So., WR) from Potters House, Spencer Mollnow (Fr., QB) from Mandarin, Austin Dukes (So., DL), Darius Singletary (So., LB) from Franklin Peterson Academy, Derontae Jordan (Fr., DB) from Columbia, Chris Sakamoto (So., LB) from Clay, Andrew Wilcox (Fr., DL) from University Christian, Alex Wilcox (Fr., DL) from University Christian, Ethan Cruz (So., OL) from Sandalwood, Mark Harris (So., OL) from Ponte Vedra, Alexander Condorteanu-Oroveanu (So., OL), Mike Syrakis (So., WR) from Mandarin, Ryan Birge (So., DL) from Fleming Island.
Perhaps no one has made a greater impact than Ashley, who is second in receiving with 32 catches for 444 yards and first in scoring with six touchdowns along with a 13.88 yards per catch average.
In his first collegiate game, Ashley only had two catches for 27 yards but he made the most of it hauling in both for touchdowns. Things only got better from there.
Two weeks later, against arch-rival Florida Tech Ashley had a then career high 5 catches for 106 yards including a 76 yard touchdown. Against Delta State two weeks later, Ashley hauled in six catches for 56 yards, including a 22 yard touchdown.
In the biggest game of the year at the time, at No. 4 West Georgia in the regular season finale, Ashley had two catches for 44 yards including a 32 yard touchdown in the huge win.
Two days ago in the quarterfinal win against host West Alabama, Ashley had a career-high game, finishing with six receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown. His two biggest plays came on the fourth quarter drive that put West Florida ahead 28-14. He out-jumped his man on a 26-yard third-and-11 play to keep the drive alive before grabbing a 43-yarder a play later that put the ball at the two which set up Chris Schwartz 2 yard score.
He isn’t the only one contributing as Dukes has accumulated 38 tackles and two sacks, while Battle has 10 tackles.
And now the Argonauts (10-3) are one away from a possible national title in just their second year, but first must get past No. 1 Indiana University of Pennsylvania (13-0) Saturday in the semifinals at 12 p.m. EST on ESPN3.
A win would put the Argonauts in the Division II national title game Saturday Dec 16 at 6 p.m. on ESPN2, against the winner of the other semifinal game between Harding (11-3) and Texas A&M Commerce (12-1).
http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/football/d2
West Florida (10-3)
Sept 2 at Missouri State 20-16
Sept 16 Chowan 51-23
Sept 23 Valdosta State * 19-30
Sept 30 at Florida Tech * 23-21
Oct 6 Mississippi College * 28-14
Oct 14 Delta State * 25-28
Oct 21 at Shorter * 42-29
Oct 28 at West Alabama * 18-35
Nov 4 North Alabama * 30-7
Nov 11 at West Georgia * 34-29
Nov 18 at Wingate (1st Rd) 31-0
Nov 25 at West Georgia (2nd Rd) 17-14
Dec 2 at West Alabama (Elite 8) 28-21
Dec 9 at Indiana-Pennsylvania (FF)
