YSU FOOTBALL Opponent dangerous despite eight losses, Heacock warns
Elon's schedule is the toughest in I-AA, YSU's coach claims.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State football coach Jon Heacock has a lot of faith in his senior leadership and he feels that will carry the Penguins through the final two games of the regular season.
The Penguins (7-2), ranked No. 6 in the Sports Network I-AA poll, play host to Elon at 1 p.m. in Stambaugh Stadium Saturday.
Heacock warns that the Phoenix (2-8) are a dangerous football team.
"First of all they played without a doubt the toughest schedule in all of I-AA football," Heacock said. "And secondly they run the wishbone offense and run it well."
The wishbone is something that the Penguins don't get to see much while playing in the Gateway Conference and Heacock said that will put pressure on his defense.
"They run the true triple-option offense, the wishbone," he said. "We got a sample of it against Western Kentucky, which runs the option, but not out of the wishbone."
The Penguins struggled against Western Kentucky and eventually lost 24-14, but Heacock didn't foresee major changes this week.
"You don't change things at this point in the season, you just have to do things better," he said.
Standings scenario: The Penguins, who finished 5-2 in the Gateway Conference and will finish no better than a tie for second place, had an open date last week and according to Heacock, a much-needed rest.
"I felt that we needed both a mental and physical rest this past week," he added. "We had a couple of intense practices and then on Monday we went back to work for Elon."
The Penguins are in a must-win situation if they have any chance at making the I-AA playoffs.
"It doesn't matter who is coming in here, we have to win and that's the bottom line," said Heacock.
The Penguins played one of their best games in a 31-7 victory at Southern Illinois two weeks ago.
Senior quarterback Jeff Ryan passed for 214 yards on 16-of-19 completions and had a team-high 94 yards rushing, as the Penguins amassed over 500 yards in total offense.
Ryan said he needs a similar effort in the last two games.
"We know that we have only 12 assured days left of this football season," Ryan said on Tuesday. "We don't like that, we want to keep playing as long as we possibly can.
The Penguins are also going to need another big effort from junior tailback P.J. Mays, who went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season against the Salukis. He also has scored a team-high 17 touchdowns, 16 of them rushing.
The YSU receiving corps also needs to step up its game this week, led by junior Gerald Burley (21 catches), Sean Guerriero (15 catches), Eugene Mintze (11 catches) and tight ends Dennis Dlugosz and John Schumacher with 11 and 10 catches, respectively.
Holding its own: The defense has been holding its own, allowing just 164 yards passing and 126 yards rushing per game, while creating 32 turnovers, including 20 fumble recoveries.
Senior LeVar Greene is nationally ranked with six interceptions and he also has 14 pass deflections and two fumble recoveries.
Junior Russell Stuvaints leads the team with 15 tackles for losses, while junior Ken Baun and senior Todd Blackwell have 11 and 10, respectively. Junior Jon Tekac leads the team in tackles with 59.
But the Penguins have committed 23 turnovers this year, high for a YSU team.
"Turnovers have been our big problem this year," Ryan added. "We've had way too many and we have to go these last two games without any if we want to have a chance at winning."
mollica@vindy.com