Heacock coach of year; 12 Penguins get honors

Youngstown State put five players on the All-Conference first team.
ST. LOUIS -- Youngstown State's Jon Heacock was named the Gateway Football Conference's Bruce Craddock Coach of the Year, while the Penguins had a school-record 12 individuals selected All-Gateway, the league announced today. YSU had five players on the first team, four on the second team and three tabbed honorable-mention.
Heacock, one of 16 finalists for the 2005 Eddie Robinson Division I-AA Coach-of-the-Year Award, helped guide a four-win turnaround as the Penguins went from 4-7 in 2004 to 8-3 in 2005. In Gateway play, YSU had a three-win turnaround going 5-2 and tying Southern Illinois and UNI for the conference crown after finishing 2-5 in 2004.
Five on first unit
Youngstown State had five first-team All-Gateway selections, the most for the school since having five in 2001. The individuals named first-team all-conference were junior center Ryan Jewell (Warren), junior fullback Demetrius Ison (Jackson Center, Pa.), junior cornerback Codera Jackson (Rochester, N.Y.), senior defensive end Justin Scholes (Mentor) and sophomore linebacker James Terry (Stafford, Va.).
Jewell started 10 games at center, missing the season finale against WKU because of an injury. Jewell was named second team academic all-district.
Ison started nine of 11 games at fullback. He had 13 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown and scored a touchdown in the season finale against Western Kentucky. Ison also caught 23 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown.
Jackson led the conference with six interceptions and ranked seventh in Division I-AA in interceptions per game.
Scholes was the team leader with 5.5 sacks and tied for the team lead with 10.5 tackles for losses. Scholes recorded 41 total tackles, including 24 solo stops.
Terry started 10 games and played in all 11, leading the team with 71 total tackles.
Four second-team picks
The Penguins had four individuals selected second-team -- junior tailback Marcus Mason (Potomac, Md.), senior defensive end Brandon Brown (Youngstown), junior punter Joe Bishop (Canton) and junior cornerback Jason Perry (Warrensville Heights).
Mason started all seven Gateway games, averaging 115.7 yards per game, the second most in the conference. He scored eight rushing touchdowns in league play to tie for the Gateway lead and finished with 810 yards on 156 carries in Gateway action.
Perry had 63 total tackles, including 38 solo stops, and had two tackles for losses, including a sack. He also had a team-high seven pass breakups.
Bishop punted 45 times for an average of 37.6 yards. He placed 19 kicks inside the 20-yard line.
Brown recorded 34 tackles, including 21 solo stops. He had 8.5 tackles for 38 yards in losses and was credited with 3.5 sacks for 24 yards in losses.
Honorable mention
Selected honorable mention were senior offensive tackle John Bartos (Youngstown), senior wide receiver Kyle Smith (San Diego, Calif.) and senior linebacker Mike Andrews (Oldsmar, Fla.).
Smith caught at least one pass in his last 30 games played, which set a school record and ranks sixth in Gateway history. This season he caught 37 passes for 482 yards and had five touchdowns.
Andrews had a career-high 70 total tackles, including 34 solo stops. He also had two tackles for losses and one sack and two interceptions.
Bartos started all 11 games at left tackle and finished his career by starting 34 games.