Penguins vs. Panthers

Local ties: Former Hubbard native Jim Powers, now living in St. Louis, was on hand. Powers works for the Gateway Football Conference and was working with the Gateway Television Network which televised the game. Powers was the time-out coordinator for the broadcast. A former sports radio broadcaster and a former basketball coach in the Youngstown area, Powers also coordinates a weekly Gateway Conference radio report that goes out to all of the conference’s affiliates. At YSU, that report is played during the Penguins pre-game shows with Bob Hannon.

Overflow crowd: Not only was the UNI-Dome totally sold out for Saturday’s YSU-Northern Iowa game with 16,324 seats and 800 standing room tickets sold, but the University also sold another 1,500 seats to the adjoining new basketball arena where UNI students who didn’t get into the UNI-Dome watched on a big-screened television.

Playing No. 1: The only other time in the YSU-Northern Iowa series when one team was ranked No. 1 going into the contest was in 1997 when the Penguins were No. 1 and lost 35-32 to the Panthers, but still went on to win their fourth national championship.

No. 1 fan: The Penguins’ No. 1 fan, Dr. David Sweet (the president of the University) and his wife, Pat, made the trip to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to cheer on the Penguins. Also here were YSU Trustees Donald Cagigas and Scott Schulick. A regular at every YSU game home or away, former athletic director Joe Malimisur and his wife, Olga, attended.

Record game: YSU senior quarterback Tom Zetts passes for 245 yards against Northern Iowa, which was his 12th career 200-yard passing game tying the school record that was held by Hall of Famer Ron Jaworski.

Second time: Junior tight end Derrick Bush has caught two touchdown passes for the Penguins, both have come against Northern Iowa and both of them in the UNI-Dome. Two years ago, he caught a 10-yard TD pass in a loss here and Saturday he caught a 28-yarder. Both were in the same end zone at the UNI-Dome.

Pete Mollica