Rowan has spring fling

The former LaBrae quarterback threw four touchdowns to lead the Red team to a 31-13 victory.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Todd Rowan was pretty impressive in his first action under game conditions for the Youngstown State football team.
The 6-3, 205-pound redshirt freshman from LaBrae High School, had a performance most quarterbacks only dream about in the YSU Red and White spring game at Stambaugh Stadium Friday night.
Rowan completed every pass he threw -- a perfect 12-for-12 -- and had four touchdown passes as he led the Red team to a 31-13 victory, the fourth straight win for the Red in the 34th annual classic.
Two of his 12 passes were for the White team, including a 74-yard touchdown pass to senior Josh Cayson in the game's waning minutes.
"He threw the ball pretty well tonight," said YSU head coach Jon Heacock. "But, that's why we recruited him."
Rowan, who ran six times for 30 yards, also had touchdown passes of 25 yards to sophomore Da'Michael Horne, 45 yards to redshirt freshman Aaron Pitts and 5 yards to junior transfer Miles Williams from Austintown Fitch High.
The yardage
He finished with 215 passing yards: 137 for the Red and 78 for the White.
YSU's junior starting quarterback Tom Zetts wasn't nearly as effective, completing 3-of-9 for 63 yards. He also had a 37-yard run for a touchdown for the White's first score of the game.
"It wasn't one of my better games," said Zetts, who was also intercepted once by sophomore cornerback Jarvis Richards. Richards picked off Zetts twice in last Saturday's spring jersey scrimmage.
"It was still good to see so many players having good games tonight," Zetts added. "We accomplished a lot this spring and we are all looking forward to the season."
Cayson, a Warren JFK High product, caught two passes for 99 yards. He hooked up with Zetts on a 25-yarder and then the touchdown pass from Rowan.
"Tommy Zetts has improved a lot in the last two years and we expect great things from him, but it certainly is nice to have a backup like Todd Handy," Cayson said.
Heacock was pleased that the Penguins came out of the game healthy.
"It's always good when nobody gets hurt," he said. "We had some guys banged up going in and we were switching offensive linemen around the whole night."
"Overall we improved this spring and we accomplished a great deal, now it's up to our seniors to carry us through the summer because the coaches can't spend the time with them according to NCAA rules," Heacock added.
The kicking game
Senior punter Joe Bishop only kicked once in the game, but it was a dandy as he booted the ball 78 yards, from his own 17 to the White team's 5-yard line. He also kicked four extra points and a 28-yard field goal.
His counterpart, Brian Palmer, a sophomore from Mineral Ridge, who has had a good spring, didn't fare as well in the game.
Palmer had his first extra point blocked, was way short on a 41-yard field goal attempt and had a punt blocked by junior Dorian Chenault. The block was scooped up by senior Tom Froelich, who ran 12 yards for a Red touchdown.
The White team finished with an edge in total yards (234 to 202).
Sophomore Jabari Scott was the White's leading rusher with 60 yards on two carries and all 60 came on one run early in the scrimmage when he broke free from several tacklers.
Senior Justin Reams led the Red team with 40 yards on 11 carries.