UWF Football: Argos shred Shorter, win back-to-back games in the Peach State

Points weren't at a premium for the University of West Florida football team on Saturday.

For the second time this season, the ninth-ranked Argos reached the 50-point mark as they clobbered Shorter University 50-26 from Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia.

Unbeaten in six games all-time against the Hawks, UWF moves its record to 3-1 against Gulf South Conference opponents and a 5-1 overall this season.

Additionally, the Argos have won their last 13 games on the road.

"I'm really proud of our team," UWF head coach Pete Shinnick said. "Other than a late touchdown, I really feel good about a lot of things that took place. ... We needed to play this well, we needed to get this done. I feel like Shorter had the ability to stay in the game if we let them. And credit to our guys, we didn't let them."

Senior wide receiver David Durden and junior running back C.J. Wilson both shined for both shined for West Florida, scoring two touchdowns apiece.

Durden started his production early in the game while Wilson got going late. The wide receiver opened the scoring with a 58-yard punt return just 2 minutes into the game. He later added an one-handed, 13-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter.

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The senior finished the day with nine receptions for 111 yards.

Wilson crossed the goal line twice within a 47 second-span in the fourth. After scoring a 2-yard plunge, the running back raced to the end zone again on the first play following a Shorter three-and-out. Wilson's 40-yard rumble gave the visitors their largest cushion at 50-18. 

Several other Argos got in on the fun in the moments in between.

Junior quarterback PeeWee Jarrett gave his team a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a scramble from 12 yards out.

UWF's offense stalled some in the second quarter, but thanks to a 23-yard field goal from redshirt junior Griffin Cerra with 16 second left before halftime, the road team went into the break with a 17-3 advantage.

Redshirt senior Isaiah Harris opened the second half with a 49-yard kick return to set the Argos offense up with good field possession. Cerra knocked in his second field goal after drilling a 27-yard attempt.

The hosts showed signs of life when Hawks quarterback Aeneas Dennis found Treveon Dirden on a 10-yard score to make it 27-10 late in the third, but that's as close as they would get.

Early in the fourth, West Florida redshirt junior linebacker Gael Laurent forced Dennis into an international-grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety. Later, junior running back Shomari Mason, the Argos' all-time leader in rushing yards and touchdowns, added to his career total with a 10-yard score on the ground.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday in Rome.

Argos' offense keep on rolling

The Argos have another balance day on offense, producing 219 passing yards and 222 rushing yards. Jarrett and the offense had a clean day with no turnovers and only punted the ball twice.

West Florida is fifth in the country in total offense and are averaging 43.8 points per game.

The ground attack has continued to excel for the Argos. Wilson had seven carries for 54 yards. Jarrett contributed six carries for 98 yards.

Jarrett was also efficient in passing the game, going 18 of 29 for 189 yards.

"I loved how PeeWee played," Shinnick said. "We wanted to give him a couple of different looks, thought he handled himself really well. I thought he connected on a couple of deep balls that we missed and I thought his connections underneath were really good. Love how he's progressing, love how he ran the ball. I thought everybody in the house thought our running backs had the ball, and then PeeWee is coming out the backside doing great things."

Durden emerges again for the Argos

The 2021 First Team All-GSC receiver has elevated his play over the last few games

Durden had 34 catches for 797 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns in just nine games a season ago.

After missing the season opener against Warner, the senior wide receiver has 29 grabs for 501 yards and five touchdowns in 2022.

Durden has reached the end zone in every game he's played this season.  He's also had at least 100 receiving yards in three of his last four games.

Durden's consistent play has helped the passing game, and in turn he has gelled with Jarrett. Over the past two games, the quarterback has shown confidence in the team's No. 1 option by throwing jump balls to him in the red zone.

On the doorstep of No. 50

The victory was the 49th in Shinnick's career with the Argos.

Hired as the program's first head coach in February 2014, the Maryland native has built West Florida into one of the premier programs in the country. Shinnick has a 49-20 overall record at UWF.

He was named the Division II National Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2019 by D2Football.com. Also in 2017, he was named AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year.

Of course, Shinnick's biggest achievement came in 2019 when he led West Florida to the 2019 Division II National Championship.

With previous stops at UNC Pembroke and Azusa Pacific, Shinnick has amassed 152 career victories, which ranks him eighth among active Division II head coaches.

Now, he's shoot for win No. 50 at UWF during homecoming next week. The Argos are host to Mississippi College at 4 p.m. Saturday at Pen-Air Field.

"(We) got a tough Mississippi College team that's coming back to Pen-Air Field. We're excited to be able to be back at home," Shinnick said.

Greg Hollis is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at ghollis@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: UWF Football: No. 9 Argos make quick work of Shorter, win third straight