Zetts shoulders some blame for Penguins’ loss to Redbirds

The senior quarterback says he knows the Penguins will be ready for Northern Iowa.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State senior quarterback Tom Zetts is not one to shrug off the importance of his position to the football team.

Zetts said this week that some of the Penguins failure last week in a crucial 27-22 loss to Illinois State falls on his shoulders and his alone.

“There were two or three third down situations that fell on me alone. I didn’t do what I needed to do for us to convert,” said the Boardman native.

“Those things we quickly addressed Sunday night,” he added. “They were the difference between us scoring a touchdown and kicking a field goal and in the end it was the difference between us winning and losing.”

Saturday the Penguins travel to take on unbeaten Gateway Conference leader and the No. 1-ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision, Northern Iowa.

The Penguins dropped to No. 20 in the FCS poll.

The contest will kickoff at 4 p.m. in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and will be televised on the Gateway Television Network, which will be picked up locally by WFMJ (21).

Zetts, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound four year starter, said he knows the Penguins will be ready for Northern Iowa.

“I know that every game we play in our conference we are up for,” he said. “I know that mentally I’ll be ready to play this week.”

Zetts saw a change in the team’s attitude, even early in the week.

“I think it’s where it needs to be,” he added. “I know we weren’t happy about last week and we’ll do everything we can to get that changed for this week.

“You can see it in the guys’ eyes this week,” he added. “It’s only Tuesday and we don’t play until Saturday, but I know we’ll be ready to play on Saturday.

“Just talking to the guys you can see the difference,” Zetts said. “I talked to Louis [Irizarry] yesterday and all he kept saying was ‘I’m going to catch every pass you throw at me this week.’ ”

Irizarry, who missed four games with a broken bone in his hand, returned against the Redbirds and dropped a crucial pass over the middle which would have kept a YSU drive alive.

Zetts said injuries have been a factor this season.

“It comes down to this is who we have and this is what we’re going to be playing with,” he said. “All I know is that group in front of me is doing a heck of a job keeping people off my back and that’s all I can ask for. They are doing one heck of a job out there.”

Zetts has been to the UNIDome before and knows what it’s like.

“It’s different, a different turf, but it’s not overwhelmingly different,” he added. “It still comes down to our guys going up against their guys in a football game.”

The senior, one of the team’s five captains, said he plans to be around as much as possible this week.

“I’m going to be around here as much as I can this week,” he added. “The coaches have shown us what we need to do against Northern Iowa, now it’s just a matter of going about preparing ourselves.”

Zetts said he has plenty of faith in this senior class to get the job done.

“This senior class, and I not just saying it because I’m part of it, has as much desire to win as last year’s senior class,” he concluded.

mollica@vindy.com