Penguins soar to finale

YOUNGSTOWN -- Saturday, the Youngstown State football team faced its first real Gateway Conference test and passed with flying colors.
Missouri State came to Stambaugh Stadium loaded with a great deal of respect after the Bears went 1-2 against the three so-called "best" teams in the Gateway: Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky.
First, the Bears (3-3, 1-3) took Southern Illinois to overtime before losing. Then they defeated Northern Iowa, 24-21.
Nine days ago, the Bears faced off against Western Kentucky, the top-ranked Division I-AA team, and scored 21 points against them in the fourth quarter in a nine-point loss.
But against the Penguins (7-1, 4-0), the Bears scored once, set up by a muffed punt, as the Penguins celebrated homecoming with a 31-7 victory.
Now who has respect?
YSU's defense dominated, limiting the Bears' ground game to 116 yards. Behind a massive offensive line, Bears quarterback Scott Carroll completed 9-of-16 passes for just 49 yards.
Mason rollsfor 203 yards
YSU's offense was led by solid blocking up front that sprung tailback Marcus Mason for 203 yards on 32 carries.
"It's critical that to have a great defense, you have to have an offense that takes care of the ball," Heacock said.
In the first half, the Penguins outscored the Bears, 10-7. Three mistakes -- a dropped ball on a punt attempt, a muffed punt and pass interference near the goal -- gave the Bears extra chances.
But they only scored once.
In the second half, the Penguins executed to near perfection, scoring three fourth-quarter touchdowns to turn a close contest into a rout.
"We played inspired football in the second half," Heacock said. "Field position played a role.
"We stressed all along that we had to win the fourth quarter," Heacock said. "If you look at Missouri State's last three games, they scored 44 points in the fourth quarter, and those were big games."
No wonder Youngstown State has grabbed the attention of the rest of the Gateway and the I-AA playoff committee.
7-1 start hasYSU earning respect
Two months ago when the 2005 season was getting started, most observers felt the Penguins would need to get through the first eight games with no more than two losses in order to have hope for the playoffs.
One reason is because the Penguins traveled to Pittsburgh in Week 4 and were blown out, 41-0, by the Panthers. A loss to a I-A team was not unexpected and shouldn't affect the playoff selectors' opinions.
But losses in the conference will. So far, YSU has been perfect against the bottom half of this year's Gateway standings: Illinois State (20-17), Indiana State (45-0), Western Illinois (23-21) and Missouri State.
Now, the fun begins. YSU's three remaining opponents were the preseason picks to dominate the Gateway: Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky.
One more victory gives the Penguins a solid chance for one of the lower seeds.
Two more wins puts them in contention for a home game in the first round.
Three victories would have them challenging for a top seed.
Road trip to Iowabrings next test
It won't be easy, but the good news for YSU is that they begin the trifecta Saturday with a trip to Cedar Falls, Iowa.
True, YSU's record against the Panthers is an unimpressive 6-13 and they've only won there three times, that last time in 1999.
But the Panthers appear to be imploding after losing to Illinois State, 38-3, on Saturday.
On Nov. 5, YSU will travel to Carbondale, Ill., to play Southern Illinois. The regular season winds up at Stambaugh Stadium when Western Kentucky comes to town.
No matter how the regular season ends, few can argue that this has been the Penguins' most exciting season in Coach Jon Heacock's five-year tenure.
During Saturday's game, Heacock shook up his offense a bit by inserting Vince Gliatta behind center in the second and fourth quarters.
Offense scoreswith spread formation
Gliatta was the quarterback on the Penguins' second-quarter scoring march of 80 yards that put YSU ahead for good. He also scored two of the fourth-quarter touchdowns on runs of 7 and 14 yards.
"We found something during the game that we felt like ... was really going to be good for us," Heacock said. "It wasn't just necessarily Vince -- it was our offensive line, Marcus and Q [tailback Monquantae Gibson]. By spreading them out, we were able to do some things that we don't normally do.
"I thought our wideouts do a fine job of blocking, which is not a fun thing for them."
A couple of trends continued for the Penguins: cornerback Codera Jackson has six interceptions, including one in each Gateway game.
And Mason topped the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game, the first YSU rusher to accomplish this since Tamron Smith in 1991.
For the moment, YSU has clinched nothing. But the Penguins' strong start has put them in a position to play with the big dogs for the rest of this fall.
What more could a YSU diehard want?
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write to him at williams@vindy.com.