Heacock praises effort of team's seniors

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State football coach Jon Heacock hopes for another solid effort from his seniors, who, although they don't have anything to look forward to in the postseason, are still playing tremendously hard.
The Penguins (5-4, 3-3 Gateway) make their final road trip of the season, to Normal, Ill., where they will play Illinois State (5-4, 3-2) Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
"Our seniors showed a lot a character last week with the effort they gave against Southern Illinois," Heacock said. "It would have been real easy to just play out these last three games, but these seniors don't want to hear that. They are playing just as hard now as they did when the season began.
"I've said right from the beginning that this is a special group and I'm so very proud of them."
Winning track
Heacock said last week's 21-9 victory over Southern Illinois was a good one, but is wasn't the best effort of the season.
"We're not doing anything different than we have done all season long, except maybe block and tackle a little better," he said.
The Penguins rushed for a season-high 376 yards against the Salukis and had two players with more than 100 yards for the second time this season. Senior tailback P.J. Mays finished with 210 yards and one touchdown, but he also fumbled the ball three times, losing two of them.
"In P.J.'s case it was an example of someone just trying too hard, trying to get an extra yard instead of protecting the football after getting hit," Heacock said.
Junior tailback Mike Burns added a career-high 123 yards on 12 carries and scored once on a 44-yard run.
"Mike comes in and gives us a different look back there because he's so big," Heacock said. "But he's also very fast and had a great game Saturday."
Next challenge
Illinois State offers a big challenge to the Penguins, according to Heacock.
"This is a much improved football team over a year ago," he said. "Their quarterback [Mike Souza] has been twice named the Gateway offensive player of the week and they have two outstanding wide receivers.
"Defensively they're not a big group," he added. "It kind of looks like they took the defensive backs and moved them to linebacker and took the linebackers and moved them to defensive linemen."
Heacock said that he'll challenge the seniors to once again provide leadership against the Redbirds.
"It's up to them," Heacock said. "They made the difference last week and they still have two more chances for victory this year. I know they want it, that's just the way this group is and has been all year."
Senior reps
Mays has been the senior leader for the offense, while the defense has been led by linebackers Jon Tekac, Justin Dellarose and Russell Stuvaints and linemen Guy Mazard, Martin Stachowicz and Matt Mechling. Anthony Barone is the lone senior in the secondary.
Mays, Tekac and tight end John Schumacher were elected captains for the final three games of the season by their teammates. During the first eight games the coaching staff named senior co-captains each game from the 17 seniors on the roster.