YSU FOOTBALL Terracina earns praise

The Penguins' placekicker was named a National Player of the Week.
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;By PETE MOLLICA & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jon Heacock, Youngstown State University's head football coach, knows that great kickers are usually great competitors.
He saw it firsthand with Jeff Wilkins, who's now kicking in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, and he is seeing it again with current YSU kicker, Nick Terracina.
"I can remember when Jeff Wilkins would always come up to the coaches and ask to play some defensive back, or else he wanted to be the scout team quarterback," Heacock said. "He just wanted to be in there competing and helping the team.
"Nick is a very competitive guy also," Heacock said.
Broke YSU record
Last Saturday, Terracina broke the YSU record for longest field goal, when he boomed a 56-yard kick in the 34-3 victory over Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
He also kicked a 47-yard field goal later in the game, and is a perfect 5-for-5 this season in field goals.
Terracina broke the record that was jointly held by Wilkins and another NFL kicker, Paul McFadden, who both kicked 54-yard field goals.
McFadden, who made his kick in the 1980 season, was on the sidelines doing radio reporting Saturday, and watched the record-breaking kick.
"I wasn't around when Paul was here, but I know that he was the same type of individual," Heacock said.
Knew it was for record
Terracina said that he was aware that he was kicking for a school record.
"I knew what the record was and I knew that we were right around that mark when I went in," he said. "I really didn't do anything differently. I always try to kick as hard as I can whatever the distance.
"I've played soccer my whole life and it was always kicking as hard and as far as you could," he said.
When asked about the pressure he faced when he went in to make the kick, Terracina laughed.
"Actually there was more pressure on me when I kicked the second one because it was shorter and I knew I'd be expected to make it," Terracina said.
"When I'm out on the field, I just try to go out and do my best," Terracina said. "I practice very hard all week long to get ready for the game."
Terracina, like the other kickers on this year's team (Joe Bishop and Ryan Martino), don't like to just stand around at practice when they are not kicking.
In other drills
You'll see them taking part in other drills such as defending the wide receivers during passing drills, or running offensive plays against the defensive linemen.
"We just want to do whatever it takes to help the team get better and win," Terracina said.
Heacock said that he never even had a second thought about sending his junior kicker into the game at that distance.
"I figured that anywhere around the 40-yard line and we were going for it," Heacock said. "I've seen him do it enough in practice that I knew he could make it."
Terracina came to the Penguins from Jones Junior College, and was here for spring practice and kicked a 48-yard field goal in the Red and White Spring Game into a stiff wind.
For his efforts against Liberty, Terracina was named the Gateway Conference special teams player of the week.
National Player of Week
Tuesday, Terracina was one of three Division I-AA special teams members to be named National Player of the Week by the Football Gazette.
His 56-yard field goal is the longest in I-AA this season, and the second longest in all of Division I football behind Auburn's Philip Yost's 57-yard kick.
He and his Penguin teammates will begin play in the rugged Gateway Conference this Saturday when they play host to Southwest Missouri State at 7 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Penguins will carry a 3-2 record into the contest against the Bears, who are 3-1 on the year.