Defense earns red jerseys

By Pete Mollica

Saturday’s scrimmage at YSU topped 100 plays.

YOUNGSTOWN — For the first time in more than two years, the Youngstown State defensive players will wear the red practice jerseys when the Penguins take the field tonight at Stambaugh Stadium.

Saturday, the defense came from behind to post a 41-28 victory in the Penguins’ spring jersey scrimmage, meaning that unit gets to wear the red jerseys in practice until the fall jersey scrimmage.

“It feels good to get those red jerseys back,” senior defensive tackle Mychal Savage said. “[The offense] had them for quite a while and we needed to get them back.”

YSU coach Jon Heacock was pleased with the scrimmage, which covered more than 100 plays.

“The offense came out and made a good opening drive and then the defense came back and played very well after that,” Heacock said. “There was some good hitting and some good running. We are nowhere near where we need to be, but we have made considerable improvement over these last three weeks.”

Heacock said he was excited about the three quarterbacks in the scrimmage.

“Todd [Rowan] played very well as did Brandon [Summers] and Paul [Corsaro],” Heacock said. “Paul had two interceptions, but he’s still a true freshman out there and he’s going to be a good one.

“We’ve got a lot of new things going on offensively for them to be thinking about, but the holding calls have to be eliminated.”

Rowan opened the scrimmage and had the offense looking in midseason form.

The 6-foot-3, 223-pound junior from LaBrae High led a 14-play, 80-yard drive to put the offense on the scoreboard.

Rowan only threw two passes in the drive and completed them both, the second for 10 yards to a wide-open Ferlando Williams in the end zone for the scrimmage’s only touchdown.

Senior tailback Kevin Smith was the workhorse on the drive, carrying 10 times for 49 yards. He finished the day with 76 yards on 18 carries.

“That first drive was nice, but vafter that we really couldn’t get anything going,” Smith said. “We’re getting better this spring, but none of us are satisfied with that, we still have to get a lot better.”

The defense took control of the remainder of the scrimmage.

The offense had 16 more drives, but the best it could get out of them were three field goals.

Stephen Blose was good from 42 and 43 yards, while Brian Palmer was perfect on his only attempt from 37 yards and an extra point.

Leading the defense was junior tackle Bruce Palmer, who blocked a field goal and added a couple tackles for losses, Seniors Tyler Griffin and Bobby Lykes-Knight each made an interception. Lykes-Knight’s pick came after sophomore Andre Elliott tipped a pass thrown by Corsaro.

The longest offensive play of the scrimmage came from Summers, who fired a 41-yard completion to sophomore wide receiver Dominique Barnes. Barnes probably would have scored on the play, but had to come back for the underthrown ball.

Rowan finished 9-of-12 for 77 yards and the touchdown while Summers was 4-of-6 for 67 yards and Corsaro 2-of-5 for 35 yards and two interceptions.

Junior Aaron Pitts led the receivers with three catches. Josh Lee, Williams, Barnes and Dionte Snow all had two catches.

Jabari Scott added 32 yards rushing on 10 carries and Dana Brown had 7 yards on 10 carries. Summers led the quarterbacks with 34 yards on six carries.

The Penguins have practice tonight at 7:30. The draft for the spring game will be conducted Tuesday at noon in conjunction with the Bob Dove Spring Luncheon at the DeBartolo Stadium Club. The spring game will be played Friday at 7:30 p.m.

mollica@vindy.com