Panthers'attack prevails
The Penguins couldn't hold a second-half 16-3 lead and lost in overtime.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown State football team blew a 16-3 second-half lead then lost in overtime 22-16 to Florida International Saturday night before 14,071 fans at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Penguins couldn't stop the passing attack of the Golden Panthers who riddled the Penguins with 338 yards through the air behind the arms of Josh Padrick and David Tabor.
It was Tabor, who came off the bench in the fourth quarter and sparked the Panthers to a pair of touchdowns, both on passes, and then threw a 1-yard scoring pass to James Williams in overtime for the winning score.
FIU missed the extra point in overtime, their second miss of the contest, giving the Penguins a chance to win.
But freshman redshirt quarterback Tom Zetts was hit hard on third down by FIU's Daunte Foster and fumbled. Lance Preston recovered, preserving the victory.
"They gave us a chance to win by missing the extra point, but we just couldn't take advantage of it," YSU coach Jon Heacock said. "I thought we played well, but was it well enough to win -- no.
"We had to improve to play this well against a good football team like Florida International," Heacock said.
First road win
The Golden Panthers, who were playing their season opener after Hurricane Frances wiped out their scheduled home opener last week, also won for the first time on the road. They were 0-10 in road games going into the contest.
"We played a horrible first half," FIU coach Don Strock said. "We played better in the second half even though we missed a couple of extra points. We feel very fortunate to get out of here with a win."
Zetts, who was 14-of-16 for 207 yards in the Sept. 2 opener against Slippery Rock, was not as sharp Saturday. He hit on just 17 of 32 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked twice and had the big fumble at the end.
The YSU defense allowed 461 total yards, 338 of them through the air, while the Penguins totaled 341 yards.
Off the bench
Tabor, a junior came on in the fourth period and tossed three touchdown passes. He was 15-of-22 for 174 yards.
The Penguins never got any pressure on the FIU quarterbacks and this concerned Heacock.
"When we blitzed somebody was left wide open and when we didn't blitz we never had any pressure on them," he said.
The Penguins started slowly again and it wasn't until Florida International's Adam Moss missed a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter that the offense started to roll.
YSU drove from its own 20 to the FIU 30 before senior Nick Terracina came on to boot a 47-yard field goal.
The defense then forced a turnover as Jeremiah Wright recovered a fumble at the YSU 41 and the Penguins turned that into seven points.
More success
Zetts hit two big passes to Matt Rycraft of 22 and 15 yards and then ground out 22 more yards before Zetts connected on a 7-yard TD pass to fullback "Deke" Ison an a 10-0 lead.
Terracina added a 32-yard field goal in the second quarter as the Penguins built a 13-0 halftime lead.
FIU got on the board on its first drive of the third quarter when Moss made a 31-yard field goal. The Penguins answered that early in the final period when they drove to the Panthers 1-yard line, but had to settle for a 21-yard Terracina field goal.
On Tabor's first drive, he took the Panthers 92 yards before hitting tight end Samuel Smith with a 12-yard scoring toss.
When they got the ball back, Tabor drove the Panthers 69 yards and this time hit Harold Leath with a 9-yard scoring toss. Chris Patullo came on and kicked the game-tying extra point.
YSU won the coin toss in overtime and took defense. Again, Tabor directed the Panthers to paydirt. He threw three times completed all of them, the final one for 1 yard to Williams, but Patullo was wide left on the point after.
The Penguins got the ball and Josh Cayson was stopped for no gain. Zetts hit Rycraft for a 7-yard gain.
On third down, Zetts dropped back to pass and under pressure started to run, but Foster hit him and he fumbled. Preston was on the ball at the bottom of the pile to clinch the win.
mollica@vindy.com