Safety first for Chenault

Last week, YSU’s free safety had six tackles, a pass breakup and a blocked pass.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Dorian Chenault knows the Youngstown State defensive secondary isn’t always going to be perfect, but the Penguins have to just keep on playing hard.

Chenault, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior free safety, is one of the leaders in the YSU secondary and came up with several outstanding plays last week both on defense and special teams that helped the Penguins pull out a 23-17 victory over South Dakota State in the home opener at Stambaugh Stadium.

“I thought the secondary really stepped out last week,” he said. “We’ve got some guys that are filling out some big shoes this year and they are just getting better and better each week.

Mindset

“The thing is that we’ve just got to keep playing out there even when things aren’t going our way,” he added. “We are not always going to be perfect.

“Sometimes we get upset when the other team drives the ball on us and scores, like what happened last week, but the key is that we need to have short memories and forget it quickly and come back out ready to go again.”

Chenault and the YSU defense must get ready again this Saturday when they face Stony Brook (N.Y.) in a 4 p.m. matchup at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Seawolves bring a 2-0 record into the contest against the Penguins (1-1).

“Last week we showed that we can respond to adversity and come back and pull out a victory,” Chenault said. “We are confident in that we know what we can do out there and we also know the things that we can fix during the game.”

Last week Chenault finished with six tackles, five of them solo, and he also had a pass breakup and a blocked pass.

Blocks punt

But probably his biggest play came on special teams when early in the opening quarter he raced through and blocked a South Dakota State punt, which was scooped up by teammate Vince Gliatta and returned 2 yards for the Penguins’ second touchdown of the game.

Youngstown State secondary coach Jeff Mills, who is also the team’s defensive coordinator, said a lot of things the Penguins do on defense is based around the safeties.

“We are trying to create a lot for our safeties, especially their hitting,” Mills said. “It’s really part of Youngstown State football. It’s things that I saw watching films before I even started coaching here.”

Mills has three very good safeties this season, all seniors. Besides Chenault and Gliatta, he also has senior Bob Perez and all are good strong players who like to hit.

Pixley award winner

Gliatta is a key example as for the past two weeks he has been awarded the Wash-on-Wheels Derrick Pixley Hit of the Week. He also had a key interception in the closing minutes that helped wrap up the win.

“Normally I would rather have the big hit than the interception, “ he said after the game, “but in this instance it kind of wrapped up the win and it was an important one.”

Chenault was named the Hill, Barth and King special teams player of the game for his effort.

mollica@vindy.com