A SEASON TO FORGET
By Pete Mollica
Injuries, player defections plagued Penguins in ’08
Two blowout losses to start the season were a sign of things to come.
YOUNGSTOWN — It was a difficult season for Youngstown State coach Jon Heacock and his Penguins’ football team.
YSU finished the season last Saturday on a high note with an impressive 31-28 victory over Western Illinois on the road in a Missouri Valley Football Conference contest in Macomb, Ill.
The win still only left the Penguins with a 4-8 season record and a 3-5 mark in the MVFC. It was the most losses in a season for Heacock since he took over the head coaching duties in 2001.
Still there were a whole list of circumstances that led to the disappointing season and hopefully the exciting end to the campaign will begin a bright future for the Penguins.
“Nobody deserved a finish like we had more than this group,” said Heacock. “They’ve battled through so many adversities, but they’ve never quit playing and playing hard. I just so proud of every one of them.”
Heacock and the Penguins went into this season with high expectations. They had lost some key players to graduation, but felt that they had the people returning to fill those gaps.
The team didn’t even get into the season before suffering its first adversity when Shawn Coin, in his third year as video coordinator and a close friend to many of the players and coaches, suffered a heart attack and died suddenly just after a practice session.
The Penguins had to deal with that loss and at the same time get ready to take on nationally ranked Ohio State in its season opener.
Nobody expected the Penguins to beat the Buckeyes, but many expected a better effort than the 43-0 shutout loss and nobody expected the team to lose three-year starter and All-American defensive tackle Mychal Savage during the game.
Things didn’t go much better in the second game, a long road trip to South Dakota State in the conference opener. A 40-7 defeat sent the Penguins scrambling for answers and one was to make a change at quarterback where junior Todd Rowan had been the starter for the first two games.
The change upset Rowan to the point that he quit the team, while at the same time the Penguins lost two more defensive starters in sophomores Torrance Nicholson and Luke Matelan and found out the same time that Savage would be lost for the season as would Matelan.
But the Penguins did rebound a little, beating Division II Central State, 38-0, and surprising ranked North Dakota State in a conference game at Stambaugh Stadium.
Just about the time when things looked like they were starting to turn around the Penguins went on a six-game losing streak and at the same time the injuries just kept piling up.
First it was senior defensive back Jarvis Richards with a season ending knee injury, linebackers Nate Ward and Mike Barlak went down and even some of the backups were hurt and not near full strength.
Offensively senior tight end Derrick Bush missed a couple games and junior tailback Jabari Scott was limited over a six-game span.
After Rowan quit, junior Brandon Summers took over at quarterback and played well, but then he got hurt. Redshirt freshman Paul Corsaro came on and finished one game and started the next, but he was then replaced and didn’t take that benching well and also quit the team and true freshman Dailyn Campbell took over for game before Summers returned.
In all the Penguins had four different starters at quarterback over the first seven games and also had a 2-5 record.
Even then and with a host of first-year players on the field the Penguins played one of their best games against ranked Northern Iowa, losing 21-20 when a game-tying extra point was blocked with less than two minutes remaining.
Summers, who threw 11 of his season-high 18 touchdown passes, in the last four games, showed that he can lead the offense, however four of the seven starters on the offensive line were seniors.
“The injuries this season were unbelievable, but it did give a lot of underclassmen an opportunity to get a lot of snaps and hopefully that will be to our advantage down the road,” said Heacock.
The Penguin coaches are already out in full force recruiting for the 2009 season and this might just be one of the most important recruiting classes in Heacock’s eight years.
It will be a big plus to have Savage back for another year as he’s been cleared for another season, while Richards just became eligible for another year.
“Because we played 12 games this year and [Richards] was hurt in the fourth game, we were able to get him another year,” said Heacock.
Summers has another year, but behind him are two freshmen, so quarterback might be a immediate concern during recruiting. Defensively linebackers will be again a concern, while the Penguins also lose four-year veteran placekicker Brian Palmer.
Next season will also mark the first time in many years when the Penguins will play more away games than home game. Of the 11 games on the schedule they will play six of them on the road, including the season opener at Pittsburgh along with key conference games at Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and North Dakota State.
mollica@vindy.com