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Argos Season Comes To An End After Second Round Loss to Newberry
November 30, 2025
A season of special moments and championship aspirations with UWF’s football team ended Saturday in a difficult way.
As fate proved, it was Newberry College returning five years later to pull off another playoff upset.
After overcoming a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter, tying the game early in the third quarter the Argos lost their starting quarterback and Newberry scored a late fourth-quarter touchdown for a 24-17 victory in their NCAA Division II Super Region 2 semifinal game at PenAir Field.
It created a stunned, silent home crowd as the Argos players fought back emotions while exiting the field.
“Obviously, overall it’s a locker room that’s hurting pretty bad,” said UWF coach Kaleb Nobles. “They put a lot of hard work into this, coaches and players, trainers and equipment managers…. everybody is hurting.”
“Because you put a lot of hard work into the season and for it to end like that is not easy. Very frustrated. Myself, I didn’t do enough personally to get this one done for us and I take all the responsibility for it.”
The Argos (10-2) were in position for a go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Marcus Stokes sustained an apparent head injury on a head-on collision while trying to score during a third-down run inside the 5-yard-line. A field goal was then missed and Stokes never returned.
“As soon as I got out there, I heard the conversation and I kind of knew where it was trending towards.” Nobles said. “He’s a great player. We’re not in this game without him. I’m very proud of his journey and what he’s done.
“I know he’s hurting right now in that locker room, because it’s not fair – that game ends like that. But life isn’t fair and he’s learned that over the years.”
Newberry (11-1), which reached a region final for the first time in school history, pulled off their final big-play pass of this game when quarterback Reed Charpia connected with Keith Desaussare on a 22-yard scoring pass with 4:55 left in the game.
UWF’s chance to tie was thwarted when backup quarterback Tony Bartalo’s fourth-down pass from the Newberry 28 to Trevon Dirden was knocked down by a Newberry defender inside the 5 with 1:16 remaining. It concluded a nine-play drive by Bartalo.
“Very proud of Tony Bartalo coming in and giving us a chance to win it,” Nobles said. “We just couldn’t do enough at the end.”
Newberry has only faced UWF twice. Both in the post-season and both resulting in upset wins.
The Wolves stunned the Argos in 2021 with an overtime win that became the final time the Argos played in Blue Wahoos Stadium before moving to their campus venue.
“Coming into the game, I felt like West Florida was the best team we’ve seen since the last time we handled them,” said Newberry coach Todd Knight, in his 17th year with the Wolves. “An excellent football team. They do it right. It’s a first-class program. I felt really fortunate to come away with the win.”
It was Newberry’s ninth straight win and seventh time this season the Wolves have won a game by a touchdown or less. Four wins occurred by a field goal or less.
“I kind of felt if it came down to the end, we have been there many times and found a way to pull it out,” Knight said. “I felt if we could get it to the last couple of minutes on the clock and we had a chance, I like our odds, because they have been there and done that and always found a way to win.”
Here’s how Saturday’s game unfolded:
FIRST HALF
An explosive start for Newberry. The Wolves scored on the game’s first snap following the kickoff. Charpia connected with running back Quez Spells, who broke free on a route coming from the backfield and was wide open for an 82-yard touchdown play that stunned the crowd.
It also set a tone for how this game would evolve.
Later in the quarter, Newberry completed an 11-play, 65-yard drive to take a 14-0 lead. Ironically, the Wolves did the same thing in their 2021 victory, scoring in the first minute of the game and then taking a 14-0 lead.
“They have good coaches and they prepared to get to an unbalanced set,” said Nobles, describing the first touchdown. “Not an easy play to defend and they did a good job scheming it up. Really that was a big play, but after that I felt we weathered the storm. We came back and tied it up.”
The Argos got their first touchdown with 6:40 left in the half when Stokes powered his way into the end zone on a designed run from the 7 yard line. The drive began with a 22-yard completion to tight end Jake Robinette.
The Wolves then kicked a field goal to take a 17-7 lead, but UWF answered with Tyler Patterson’s field goal as 1:15 remained. That ended the half with Newberry up 17-10.
“I said hey, we’ve done a good job,” said Nobles, relaying his message to players. ”We took every punch. We took a lot of haymakers and we’re still standing. We’ve done this all year. We’ve done a great job coming out of the half all year.
“Our guys answered the challenge like I talked about at halftime, we just didn’t make enough players down the stretch.”
SECOND HALF
The Argos got the third quarter kickoff. They drove 81 yards in seven plays, finished by Robinette’s 22-yard scoring pass from Stokes. The drive included a great diving catch by Corey Scott at the Newberry 22.
But from this point, UWF’s offense stalled. Stokes had a pass interception later in the quarter.
UWF drove to a first down at the Newberry 5 to start the fourth quarter. On second down, TJ Lane broke free into the end zone. But UWF was whistled for an illegal shift, which infuriated UWF coaches.
Two plays later, on a designed run Stokes was hurt and the fans, along with UWF’s entire sideline went silent. Patterson’s field goal missed to the right and the game remained tied.
UWF’s defense forced a stop, but the next time the Wolves got the ball, it resulted in the game-winning score with 4:55 left.
“Other than that big play at end of game where we had a miscommunication, I thought our defense played really well in the second half,” Nobles said. “Very proud of those guys. We’re not in this game without our defense. They had a phenomenal year.
“Credit Newberry for good plays and the quarterback (Charpia) is what he is… a very good player and we knew that.”
COACH NOBLES:
“There are lot of hours put in. The players have done a lot of good things. I love this team. It hurts that we don’t get to keep playing because this is a very good team and a team I feel should still be playing. But very proud of this team, very proud of the coaches and the work they put in to get our guys ready. Proud of the senior class because it’s not easy to do what they have done and get that many wins in the regular season and go 10-1. Hard to reflect right now, but I love this team and I love UWF.”
by Bill Vilon, UWF Argos.
Comments
One Response to “Argos Season Comes To An End After Second Round Loss to Newberry”
A playoff loss is a heartbreaking experience and words will ever ease the pain.
The coaches, players and staff have nothing to be ashamed of, as their season was not a failure. It is not the end of a season but the beginning of an era.