Thursday, April 17, 2003
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;By PETE MOLLICA & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Junior kicker Nick Terracina made a good first impression on Youngstown State football fans, booting a 47-yard field goal into the wind to give the Red team a 9-7 victory over the White team Wednesday in the annual Red and White game at Stambaugh Stadium.
Terracina, a junior college transfer from Lake Charles, La., impressed the coaching staff this spring and is expected to start in the fall.
"That's why we brought him here," said YSU head coach Jon Heacock when asked about Terracina's winning boot. "Nick's just a hard worker and he's been at it all spring long."
Heacock was impressed with the overall play.
"It's just like we've seen all spring, a lot of good hitting on both sides of the football," he said.
"There were a lot of young kids running around here tonight, and some of them were running pretty fast."
Back and forth
One of those was sophomore tailback Josh Cayson, a Warren JFK graduate, who led all rushers in the game with 82 yards on 10 carries. He scored the White team's only touchdown on a 53-yard run.
"This whole spring has just been outstanding," said Cayson. "We've got five guys battling for the tailback spot, and I think that just makes everybody work that much harder."
About his touchdown run, Cayson added, "I just got outside and it was me and the cornerback Brandon Pavone. I was able to put a move on him and then it was just a race to the end zone. I'm pretty fast and I was able to outrun everybody."
Defense ruled the first half. The game's first score -- Cayson's run -- came with only 13 minutes left in the game.
The Red team answered with an 88-yard scoring drive, capped by a four-yard run by sophomore Justin Reams. The score was set up by a couple of nice plays, including a 20-yard end-around run by Damien Wright, a 16-yard bootleg by junior quarterback Matt Rycraft and a 14-yard pass from Rycraft to sophomore wide receiver Kyle Smith.
The Red team went for the two-point conversion with only 2:28 remaining in the game, but Mike Roberts was stopped short of the goal line by junior Mike Bracken and senior Sherrod Holmes to keep the White in front 7-6.
Terracina attempted an on-side kick, but the ball didn't got 10 yards, and the White took over at the Red 41-yard line. On second down, White quarterback Luis Gonzalez fumbled the snap from center, and senior Matt Briggs recovered at midfield with 2:12 remaining.
Red sets up winning kick
Rycraft hit Chris DiMauro with a 14-yard pass on first down, and Red drove to the 30 to set up Terracina's kick.
"I really had to do something after I messed up that onside kick," Terracina said. "I don't know what happened there. But the winning kick really felt good."
Rycraft connected on 15 of 21 passes for 117 yards with no interceptions. Gonzalez was 6 of 17 for 64 yards and one interception.
DiMauro led the Red receivers with six catches for 40 yards out of the fullback position.
"I'm just happy to see the fullback used a little more in the offense," DiMauro said. "We've got two pretty quick fullbacks who can catch and I really like coming out of the backfield to catch a pass."
Defensively, Dellarose led the Red with seven tackles, while sophomore defensive end Brandon Brown had six tackles -- three for losses -- and two sacks.
Bracken led the White team with seven tackles -- one for a loss -- and a sack.