CURBSTONE COACHES Heacock: YSU's season may ride with defense

The Penguins' coach said the goal-line stand turned the tide at Liberty.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- Jon Heacock has spent most of his college coaching career on defense, so he really appreciates a good defensive effort like Youngstown State had Saturday night.
Heacock, in his third season as coach of the Penguins, addressed the opening session of the Curbstone Coaches Monday night at Lockwood House.
A five-play, goal-line stand led YSU to a 34-3 victory over Liberty University and snapped a two-game losing streak.
"That stand was the turning point in the football game, and it may have been the turning point in the season for us also," Heacock said.
"I'm so proud of our kids," he added. "First of all we had to overcome ourselves in the game, then they had to overcome the weather and finally they had to overcome adversity with that stand."
Game delayed
The Penguins trailed 3-0 early in the game, and had an interception that stopped an early drive. Then the game was delayed for over an hour because of lightning.
When the game resumed, the Penguins had their backs to the wall, with Liberty having a first down on the 3-yard line.
"First it was first-and-3, then second-and-1, then third-and-6 inches and fourth-and-2 inches," he said. "Then they called us for offside and it was fifth-and-1 inch and we held."
The Penguins (3-2) play host to Southwest Missouri State Saturday night in their Gateway Conference opener.
"The Gateway is tough from top to bottom this season," said Heacock.
"Southwest Missouri State has two outstanding tailbacks, but every week from now on you're going to be hearing the same thing about every team in the conference," he said.
Kickers lauded
Heacock praised the Penguins' two kickers.
"Nick Terracina is not only an outstanding kicker, but he is just a terrific young man," Heacock said.
Terracina converted a school-record 56-yard field goal against Liberty. He also made a 47-yard attempt and is 5-for-5 in field goal attempts this season.
"Our punter is Joe Bishop, who we recruited out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School. We red-shirted him last year and he probably was the best punter we had, but we felt he needed the year to get adjusted to college ball," Heacock said.
"Our kicking game had really been improved with those two guys this year," he added.
Quarterback situation
Heacock answered questions about the quarterback position. Sophomore Aaron Marshall has been the starter, but junior Matt Rycraft also sees playing time.
"Aaron is our starter and we just like to get our backup an opportunity to play sometime early in the game so that he's ready if we need him," said Heacock.
He also talked about the Penguins' recruiting success in Florida.
"We have a lot of help with a bunch of northern coaches who have moved down there," he said. "When I first came here, there weren't football teams at Florida Atlantic, Florida International and South Florida, so it's getting a lot tougher each year now.
"We've kind of spread things around down there now," he added. "We used to recruit in South Florida primarily."
Next week, the Curbstone Coaches will welcome former Cardinal Mooney High and Oakland Raider standout Ed Muransky as the guest speaker.
The group will be guests of Mountaineer Park on Oct. 13.
mollica@vindy.com