Penguins' players, coaches are not giving up on each other

& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;By PETE MOLLICA & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Coach Jon Heacock certainly has not given up on his Youngstown State University football team this season, and the players feel the same way about the coaching staff.
Heacock told the media and fans attending his press conference Tuesday that he and the Penguins are playing to win every game.
"We play to win and we prepare to win and it is very disappointing when we don't win," Heacock said.
The Penguins (5-4, 2-2 Gateway) are coming off a very disappointing 35-25 loss to Illinois State Saturday in the Penguins' annual homecoming game at Stambaugh Stadium.
Streak snapped
YSU, which had an 11-game homecoming win streak snapped, allowed 604 yards of total offense to the Redbirds, something that still has Heacock and the Penguins mystified.
"We never could get a handle on that game Saturday where we could force them into something they didn't want to do," Heacock said.
"That's a pretty good team and that kid [Sha-Ron Edwards] ran for 223 yards the week before against Western Kentucky," Heacock said.
"I'm disappointed in the loss, but I'm not disappointed in my kids," Heacock said. "How can you be disappointed in a Justin Dellarose, who played the last three games on one leg, or in Matt Rycraft, who went out there with a bad leg and gave it all he had?"
Final stretch
Saturday, the Penguins begin a very difficult final three-game stretch.
They travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday to meet Northern Iowa, a team that has won seven straight games and is 4-0 in the Gateway. Kickoff is set for 5:05 p.m. at the UNI-Dome.
The following week, the Penguins must trek to Carbondale, Ill., and meet the undefeated Southern Illinois Salukis, ranked No. 3 in the most recent I-AA national poll.
They finish the season at home against defending national champion Western Kentucky, which sports a 6-2 mark, 3-1 in the Gateway.
"The next three weeks are a great challenge to this football team, and these kids are excited about going to Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois to meet those challenges," Heacock said.
Knows what's ahead
Dellarose, the senior captain and linebacker, knows what's ahead for the Penguins.
"We still have three games to play and the character of this football team is going to be tested," Dellarose said.
"We were disappointed, very disappointed in last week's game," Dellarose said. "We watched the tapes and there were half a game where we did some good things, but there was another whole half of the things we did bad."
"We were well prepared for that game by the coaches," Dellarose said. "It came down to us not executing."
Mathematically, the Penguins are still not out of the Gateway race. They have to play all three teams who are ahead of them in the standings and the three top teams still have to play each other before the end of the season.
"These players are not going to quit," Heacock said. "They want to win these last three games as much as anyone."
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;mollica@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;