Minus errors, team better

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State football coach Jon Heacock was a little happier following the Penguins' second and final jersey scrimmage of spring practice.
The offense reduced its turnovers from eight to three and the defense showed overall improvement and more hustle Saturday morning in temperatures that hovered around the freezing mark.
"We got better from a week ago and we took better care of the ball today," Heacock said. "Three turnovers is still too many, but we did show improvement from a week ago."
The defense, won for the second straight week, 41-31, and will retain the red practice jerseys for the remainder of the spring and into fall practice before the next scrimmage.
"I thought the kids really concentrated hard out here today -- heck it's 32 degrees -- but we played hard and ran hard," Heacock added. "We showed a lot of improvement, but we still have a long way to go.
Effort evident: "We're a young group and we make some young mistakes," Heacock said. "We had a couple of those today, but I think with the effort and attitude today our kids responded and that's what we're looking for out here right now."
The offense opened the scrimmage on the wrong foot with a fumble on the first play. Freshman quarterback Aaron Marshall and junior tailback Mike Burns misconnected on the handoff and freshman linebacker Vince Scalmato recovered.
The offense's only touchdown came midway through the scrimmage with junior transfer quarterback Matt Crivello leading the team.
The scoring drive consisted of 11 plays and covered 65 yards, with junior tailback Darius Peterson scoring on a 4-yard run and junior placekicker Jake Stewart adding the extra point.
The big plays in the drive were a 28-yard pass from Crivello to redshirt freshman Alexander Bailey and an 11-yard pass from Crivello to senior tight end John Schumacher, which put the ball on the 6-yard line.
Those were Crivello's only completions of the scrimmage.
Marshall, who has been running the first-team offense in the spring, finished 9-of-15 passing for 77 yards, but he threw two interceptions. Senior transfer Justin Green was 1-of-3 for 5 yards.
The top rusher was junior tailback Josiah Doby, with 64 yards on 16 carries, and he also caught two passes. Sophomore tailback Walter Wright only carried the ball once, but ripped off a 43-yard run, the longest of the day.
Burns injured: Senior tailback P.J. Mays carried the ball nine times for 14 yards and junior Mike Burns had 14 yards on four carries, but sustained a foot injury early in the scrimmage and will probably miss the remainder of spring practice.
"It's either a bad sprain or a fracture," said trainer Dan Wathan.
Junior lineman Josh Davis also suffered an ankle sprain and his availability for the rest of the spring is doubtful.
Stewart, whose kicking duties are limited to weekends because of his class schedule, converted 2-of-3 field goals. He was good from 29 and 20 yards and missed from 49 yards. His 20-yarder hit the right upright and bounded through.
Interceptions were made by sophomore safety Mike Bracken and junior defensive back Wayman Peters. Senior linebacker Russell Stuvaints and senior defensive end Martin Stachowicz also played well with a couple of sacks apiece.
Senior linebacker Jon Tekac felt the defense played much better this week.
"We improved a lot in the last week, but we still have a long way to go," Tekac said. "We've got a lot of new faces on defense and we're trying to help the younger players out as much as we can. Today we hustled to the football a lot better."
Practices are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but Heacock said the weather could alter those plans.
Post Red-White: "If the weather is bad we probably won't practice," he said. "We have three more days that we can use after the spring game on Friday and we will use them the following week if any practices are canceled next week.
"We've got about seven or eight players hobbling around with injuries, nothing that serious, but we don't want to add to that list if we can help it," he said.
The spring game is Friday at 7 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium. The annual draft of the teams will be held Wednesday at a noon luncheon in the DeBartolo Stadium Club.
mollica@vindy.com