YSU defense wins scrimmage

Their 64-63 win Saturday means they get back the red practice jerseys.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Through most of Youngstown State's spring football practice the offense has been the dominant unit.
Saturday, during the team's only jersey scrimmage of the spring, the defense stepped up and took control.
When it was all said and done the outcome came down to the final play. With the score tied at 63-63, sophomore placekicker Brian Palmer missed a 53-yard field goal and the defense got the winning point for a 64-63 victory.
More importantly the defense gets to wear the red practice jerseys for the remainder of spring practice and into the fall until the next jersey scrimmage.
Despite the closeness of the game YSU coach Jon Heacock was disturbed by the team's overall play.
"I don't think that pleased is one of the words that I would use to describe my feelings right now," Heacock said.
Too many mistakes
"For a veteran football team we made way too many mistakes out there," he said. "The good thing is that they are mistakes which are easily correctable and things we will work hard on over the next three practices.
"Any time that you scrimmage against yourself the outcome is never as good as you think it is or never as bad as you think," he added.
"There is probably something good and bad out there on every play. We'll assess the films and then go from there."
Possibly the thing that upset Heacock the most were 12 penalties, most of which were offsides by the defense or false starts by the offense.
Zetts has three interceptions
Then there was the four pass interceptions the offense threw, three of them by starting quarterback Tom Zetts, who also threw a 93-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver T.J. Peterson late in the scrimmage.
"I'm sure we'll find a lot of good things and a lot of bad things after we watch the films, but there was definitely some good hitting, blocking and running out there today," said Heacock.
The Penguins scrimmaged for well over two hours and ran over 125 plays.
Sophomore Jabari Scott was the leading rusher with 128 yards on 16 carries, including a 56-yard run.
Senior Marcus Mason finished with 81 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown, while senior Justin Reams had a 9-yard touchdown run and finished with 37 yards on nine carries.
Zetts finished 8-of-17 for 178 yards with one TD and the three interceptions, while redshirt freshman Todd Rowan was 11-of-19 for 155 yards and one interception.
Peterson led the receivers with two catches for 99 yards, while redshirt freshman Aaron Pitts had three catches for 36 yards.
Ten different receivers caught at least one pass.
Defensively, sophomore Jarvis Richardson had two of the four interceptions, while senior Chris Goffer and senior Jeff Koval picked off one each.
Gliatta impressive
Junior Vince Gliatta added a fumble recovery along with several big hits, playing in his first jersey scrimmage as a defensive back after the last two seasons at quarterback.
"It's been different this spring," Gliatta said. "All I ever wanted to do was play quarterback, that's one of the reasons I came here.
"But I want to do what's best for this team and I think that I proved some things today, at least I hope so," Gliatta said.
"We have a great defense," he added. "We're strong up front, have great linebackers and good coverage people in the secondary."
Midway through the scrimmage the Penguins had a field goal kicking drill with Palmer the featured attraction.
Palmer kicks 10 straight
The former Mineral Ridge standout drilled 10 straight field goals beginning from 20 yards out. He finished by making kicks from 52 and 56 yards before missing his last two tries at 60 yards.
"When you kick in sequence like that it's a lot easier because you have a rhythm going, it's much tougher to stand on the sidelines for a while and then come in cold and kick," Palmer said.
"That last kick was a difficult situation, but the kind that I love. They called a couple of time outs to try and shake me, but really it was a kick I should have made, I just didn't hit it right," he said.
The Penguins will take today and Monday off and then come back for the Bob Dove Red and White spring game draft luncheon Tuesday at noon at the DeBartolo Stadium Club.
There will be three practices -- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before the Red and White game Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
mollica@vindy.com