Penguins overcome injuries

Youngstown State’s 40-7 victory over Indiana State Saturday was impressive in an unusual way.

The Penguins led only 13-0 at halftime and struggled to get that, but really pulled away in the second half against a team that has lost 37 of its last 38 games and was giving up over 50 points and 500 yards per game this season.

The unusual part was the fact that the Penguins were a really banged up football team going into the contest and added a few more injuries throughout the contest.

YSU went into the game with senior starting linebacker Jeremiah Wright on the sidelines and not expected to play at all, while senior starting linebacker Rashod Cotton didn’t even make the trip to Terre Haute, Ind.

Zetts, others
played injured

Senior starting quarterback Tom Zetts hardly practiced at all last week and played almost the entire contest with a sprained knee. The Boardman native, who started his 46th consecutive game for the Penguins, still finished with 13-of-18 for 111 yards with no interceptions and no sacks.

Zetts wasn’t the only starter out on the field at less than 100 percent.

Both tight ends, Derrick Bush (shoulder and back) and senior Louis Irizarry (hand), were still playing hurt along with senior wide receiver Rory Berry (hamstring) and defensive linemen Blake Halverson and Torrance Nicholson. Then standout senior linebacker James Terry went out in the second half with a shoulder injury and the Penguins were really playing with a patched-up lineup on both sides of the football.

They had senior safety Bob Perez playing both the secondary and some linebacker to fill in some holes and the Penguins did an outstanding job considering what they had to work with on the field.

Season finale
set Saturday

The season will end Saturday when the Penguins play host to Western Illinois. It will be Senior Day for the Penguins with 19 players taking their finals snaps against the Leathernecks in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Stambaugh Stadium.

YSU is 6-4 overall and 2-3 in the Gateway Conference, while the Leathernecks, who lost 10-9 to Southern Illinois last Saturday come in 6-4, 3-2.

The Penguins have something to play for — a victory would tie them for third place with Western Illinois.

The Penguins snapped a two-game losing streak with the Indiana State win and if they had won even one of those games that they lost previously they might have been playing for a postseason playoff berth.

Junior placekicker Brian Palmer continued his streak of field goals made. The former Mineral Ridge standout has now made 13-of-14 field goals this season. He did miss an extra point, his second of the season, but in Saturday’s game it hardly made a difference.

YSU’s running game was in full gear also against the Sycamores rushing for 392 yards. For the first time this season two backs rushed for over 100 yards. Sophomore Jabari Scott finished with 144 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns, while junior Kevin Smith ran for 122 yards on 14 tries and one score.

Give a lot of credit to the offensive line, patched up as it may be. Sophomore center Brian Mellott from Austintown moved over to play some guard and Bobby Coates moved in at center. Coates is a redshirt freshman and has really filled in well with all the injuries on the line.

Hoops set
to start

Basketball season is just around the corner and the YSU men’s and women’s teams are ready to go in about a week.

Men’s coach Jerry Slocum will have his hands full in the opener Nov. 12 when they travel to Los Angeles, Calif., to take on nationally-ranked UCLA, while the women will open play a day earlier at Buffalo.

XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.