The Penguins made the No. 10-ranked Buckeyes work hard during the close first half.

The Penguins made the No. 10-ranked Buckeyes work hard during the close first half.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

COLUMBUS — The Youngstown State University football team was never a serious contender against Ohio State on Saturday, but the Penguins were much more than a scrimmage opponent.

The Penguins dropped a 38-6 season-opening decision to the Buckeyes before 105,038 fans at Ohio Stadium, but the Penguins made the No. 10-ranked Buckeyes work for everything they produced.

YSU held the Buckeyes to 147 yards rushing and their top running back Chris Wells to just 46 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown on a 1-yard run.

The Penguins couldn’t do a whole lot on offense as they could muster only two field goals the entire afternoon — a 21-yard kick by junior Brian Palmer in the second quarter and a 41-yard connection by redshirt freshman Stephen Blose in the third quarter.

“Early on, we hung in with them pretty good,” YSU head coach Jon Heacock said. “We stopped the run effectively, but we had some trouble shutting down an outstanding receiver in Brian Robiskie.”

Robiskie, the top returning receiver for the Buckeyes, finished with nine receptions for 153 yards. He didn’t score, but he helped set up several.

“We moved the ball at times and had some good runs, but on the critical downs we just couldn’t come up with the plays,” Heacock said.

“You’ve got to be able to dot your i’s and cross your t’s when you’re playing a team like Ohio State and we didn’t do that today,” Heacock said.

“But I was excited for our kids and they played hard and battled and kept right on playing,” Heacock said.

Boeckman clicks in debut

While the Penguins stopped the run, junior quarterback Todd Boeckman did well in his starting debut for the Buckeyes.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 240 pounder connected on 17 of 23 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns, while the Buckeyes gained 270 yards and three TDs through the air.

“We really focused on stopping the run this week in practice, that was our main objective,” senior linebacker Jeremiah Wright said.

“We used a lot of people in the box to contain the run and put most of our secondary on man-to-man coverage and trying to do that against a guy like Robiskie is pretty tough,” Wright said.

Offensively, the Penguins finished with just 85 yards rushing and 91 passing for 176 total yards compared to the Buckeyes’ 417.

“We had fun out there and it is definitely something to build on,” senior quarterback Tom Zetts said.

Zetts finished 10 of 18 for 86 yards, the longest being 25 yards. He was sacked one time.

“I thought my line was great today and our backs ran hard,” Zetts said. “It was good to see and know that we could move the ball at times against a program like Ohio State.

“We can’t afford to take a step down after this week,” Zetts said. “I know we’ll be geared up for next week.”

Tressel lauds Penguins

Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, who spent 15 seasons as the head coach of the Penguins before coming to Columbus in 2001, lauded his former team.

“Watching them on film, I thought they were a very sound football team,” Tressel said. “I know that you don’t get to the [Division I-AA] final four like they did unless you’re pretty good.”

The Buckeyes scored the first time they had the football as Boeckman came out throwing and connected on a 41-yard pass to Robiskie.

The Buckeyes got to the YSU 6 yard line, but then needed six played to push it over as Boeckman hit freshman Dane Sanzenbacher with a 3-yard pass.

On the first play of the second quarter, the Buckeyes made it 14-0 on Wells’ 1-yard run. That score was set up by a partially blocked punt of YSU’s Ben Nowicki as the Buckeyes started at the YSU 27. It took four plays to score from the 6.

Palmer’s field goal cut the lead to 14-3 as he climaxed an 81-yard, 14-play drive in which the Penguins had first-and-goal at the 4, but couldn’t push it over.

Buckeyes take 21-3 lead

Just before intermission, the Buckeyes drove 75 yards in 10 plays to take a 21-3 lead when freshman Brandon Saine scored from the 3.

The Penguins made Ohio State settle for a Ryan Pretorius’ 24-yard field goal to open the second half. After Blose booted his 41-yard field goal, the Buckeyes added two late touchdowns.

Boeckman, who was still in the game in the final quarter, hit Trevor Robinson with a 1-yard scoring pass.

The final touchdown came on a 37-yard pass from freshman Antonio Henton to freshman Taurian Washington with about seven minutes remaining.

mollica@vindy.com