Locals Zetts, Brown, Bartos earn top honors

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown area athletes have always played a big role in the success of the Penguins football program.
Last week was a good example.
The Penguins announced their players of the week for last Saturday's 42-0 victory over Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and the local standouts took top honors.
Sophomore quarterback Tom Zetts, now in his second season as the Penguins starter, had another outstanding game.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder from Boardman guided the YSU offense to its third straight victory by throwing four touchdown passes and accounting for 205 of the team's 366 total yards.
His performance tied a school record for most touchdown passes in a game, but it is shared with seven other YSU quarterbacks, most recently by another Boardman High product Jeff Ryan in 2000.
Near perfection
Zetts was 10-of-12 passing and increased his completion percentage to over 70 percent on the season, for 513 yards and six touchdown passes.
Zetts was named the Hill, Barth and King offensive player of the game for his efforts and was also named the Haines Family Player of the Game, which is selected by the YSU radio broadcast team.
While Zetts was easily claiming top honors on offense, two other YSU linemen from the area were also sharing in the glory.
Senior offensive tackle John Bartos, an Ursuline High product, was the Jim Zdelar Offensive Lineman of the game.
The 6-3, 291-pound veteran was one of the big reasons that Zetts was able to throw four touchdown passes and the team to get 366 total yards. Zetts has not been sacked this season.
Brown top defender
Another Ursuline High grad -- senior captain Brandon Brown, the veteran defensive end -- took the Jermaine Hopkins Defensive Lineman of the game award.
The 6-1, 257-pound Brown sparked the defense that held Liberty to just over 50 yards rushing and 233 total. He finished with seven tackles, two of them were quarterback sacks as the YSU defense came up with three on the night and seven total tackles for losses in the game.
The Hill, Barth and King defensive player of the game was senior linebacker Mike Andrews of Oldsmar, Fla.
Big interception
Andrews led the Penguins in tackles with 11, but the 6-1, 230-pounder also came up with a big pass interception in the second half that led to a YSU score.
Special team honors for the game went to Twinsburg senior Herb Jones, a 5-10, 175-pound cornerback. Jones had three tackles on the night, two of them on special teams.
Andrews also came up with the Wash-on-Wheels Derrick Pixley Hit of the Week.
The unbeaten Penguins will make their second road trip of the season Saturday when they travel to meet Pittsburgh (0-3) at 2 p.m. at Heinz Field.
mollica@vindy.com