YSU FOOTBALL Hightower receives top defense award

Junior Russell Stuvaints also was a defensive award winner for the Penguins.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown State football team didn't play very well in its 30-11 loss at Northern Iowa, but senior Bruce Hightower and junior Russell Stuvaints helped to keep it from being worse.
Hightower, a 5-foot-11, 202-pound strong safety from Belle Glade, Fla., was named MVR defensive player of the game.
Stuvaints, a 6-0, 197 junior outside linebacker from McKeesport, Pa., was the Jermaine Hopkins defensive lineman of the game.
Hightower, one of the Penguins' five captains, had seven tackles against Northern Iowa, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble.
Both turnovers came in the Penguins' end zone and stopped what might have been two more Northern Iowa scoring drives.
The fumble recovery came early in the second quarter when UNI was already ahead 10-3. Panthers' tight end Ryan Hannam caught a pass at the YSU 5-yard line and was heading to the end zone. He was hit at the 1-yard line by LeVar Greene and fumbled into the end zone where Hightower was there to recover it.
Later in the quarter the Panthers were driving again, still leading 10-3. They reached the Penguins 6-yard line, when UNI quarterback Tom Petrie tried to pass, but the ball was partially tipped by Stuvaints and Hightower picked it off.
Stuvaints, who leads the Penguins in tackles this season with 28, had his eighth tackle for a loss against Northern Iowa as well as the pass deflection which led to the interception.
Freshman redshirt Phillip Larmon, a 6-0, 174 wide receiver from Worthington, was the MVR offensive player of the game. He had three receptions.
The Jim Zdelar offensive lineman of the game award went to senior tackle Pat Crummey, a 6-4, 280-pounder from Van Wert.
The Wash-On-Wheels Derrick Pixley hit of the week came from junior tailback P.J. Mays of Youngstown and the Haines Family player of the game, selected by the YSU broadcasters, was Stuvaints.
Saturday the Penguins return to the road as they take on Indiana State in a Gateway Conference contest at 2:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Terra Haute, Ind.
The Penguins own a 3-1 record, including 1-1 in the Gateway, while the Sycamores, making their conference debut, are 1-3 overall.