Zetts, Scholes, Marshall named players of week

All had outstanding games Saturday in the 31-17 loss to Southern Illinois.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State sophomore quarterback Tom Zetts has passed for 555 yards and three touchdowns in his last two games for the Penguins.
But the former Boardman High standout is anything but happy with his performance in those two games.
The main reason is that the Penguins lost both games and now face a matchup against Western Kentucky where the Penguins must win to have a chance for a postseason berth.
Two weeks ago Zetts passed for 264 yards and a touchdown in the Penguins' 21-7 loss at Northern Iowa. On Saturday he had a career-high 291 yards passing but the Penguins were beaten 31-17 at Southern Illinois.
YSU (7-3, 4-2 Gateway) is tied for second place in the standings with Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky. Southern Illinois leads the standings with a 5-1 record.
Has been playing hurt
Zetts' statistics the past two games is remarkable considering that he's been hurt and forced to leave both games, only to return injured hoping to rally the team late in the contests.
On the season the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder has completed 140 of 238 passes for 1,714 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has been intercepted six times.
Saturday he took the Penguins 65 yards on their opening drive against the Salukis, hitting all five passes in the drive, including a 17-yard strike to junior tight end Max King for the game's first touchdown.
He later connected with his former backup and now tight end Aaron Marshall for a 72-yard touchdown pass and had the Penguins leading 17-7 at the half.
Takes dual honors
For Zetts' effort he was named the Hill, Barth and King offensive player of the game for the second time this season. He was also selected as the Penguins' Haines Family player of the game by the YSU radio broadcast team.
While Zetts was taking offensive honors, senior defensive end Justin Scholes was having a career day of his own to earn defensive honors.
The 6-1, 240-pound senior from Mentor finished with five tackles on the day, three of them were for losses that totaled 19 yards, and he also had the only two quarterback sacks for the team.
That doesn't even take into account the number of quarterback pressures he put on SIU's Joel Sambursky, although the Salukis' quarterback did throw one touchdown pass with Scholes hanging on his other arm.
Special teams winner
Marshall, the 6-3, 240-pound senior tight end from Detroit, earned special teams player of the game.
The Jim Zdelar offensive lineman of the game was senior guard Jamal Lee from Cleveland Heights.
The 6-3, 290-pounder helped the Penguins outgain the Salukis 382-354 on offense Saturday.
The Jermaine Hopkins defensive lineman of the game was junior linebacker Marty Hutchinson from Newton Falls.
The Wash-On-Wheels Derrick Pixley Hit of the Week was recorded by sophomore defensive end Jose Galloza.
The Penguins will honor their senior players Saturday in the home finale at 1 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium against Western Kentucky.
mollica@vindy.com