More misery, this time in Missouri

By Pete Mollica

The Penguins battled back from a 14-0 deficit, but the defense crumbled in the second half.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Youngstown State football team couldn’t find any ways to stop Missouri State Saturday in a 42-28 loss that most likely has eliminated the Penguins from postseason opportunities.

YSU (2-5, 1-2 Missouri Valley Football Conference) allowed 399 yards, 272 of them rushing, to the Bears (2-3, 1-1). The Penguins allowed the Bears to score touchdowns on six of their eight possessions.

“You just aren’t going to win in this league when you can’t stop the run and we didn’t today,” YSU coach Jon Heacock said. “We gave up way too many big plays, things that you just can’t afford to do at this time in the season.

The Penguins scored more points than they came in averaging this season and got a big boost from true freshman quarterback Dailyn Campbell, the fourth quarterback to see action.

The Penguins used three quarterbacks in the contest, with redshirt freshman Paul Corsaro getting his first career start. He lasted only a series. They tried senior wide receiver Ferlando Williams for another series before going to Campbell who finished the game.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder from Kenton, finished 17 of 22 for 122 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted once and lost a fumble. He also gained 35 yards on 10 carries, including a 24-yard gallop on his first play in the contest.

“We’ve got a lot of kids with a lot of character on this team,” Heacock said. “He’s just one of them. This team hasn’t quit all season long, but we’ve just got to get back to doing the things that we do well in practice all week and we’ve got to take care of the football.”

After Campbell brought the Penguins back from a 14-0 deficit to a 14-14 deadlock, the defense crumbled in the second half.

The Penguins allowed the Bears to drive 67 yards off their opening drive in the third quarter to pull to a 21-14 lead.

After the Penguins went three and out, the Bears took Ben Nowicki’s 53-yard punt and returned it to the YSU 19 . Four plays later, Missouri State led 28-14.

The Penguins then were led by the running of redshirt freshman tailback Kamryn Keys, who rushed for 113 yards on 23 carries.

YSU drove 80 yards on 16 points and used 7:47 of the clock to cut the lead to 28-21 with a 1-yard run by junior Jabari Scott.

Scott played sparingly because of injuries but still had 97 yards rushing on five carries and two touchdowns.

As the final quarter began, the YSU defense couldn’t come up with the big play. The Bears drove 59 yards in six plays to pull ahead 35-21.

After Campbell fumbled on a third-down try, Missouri State recovered and went 47 yards to blow open the contest, 42-21.

Starting at his own 38, Campbell completed seven straight passes, all short ones. After throwing an incomplete one, he came back with an 11-yard scoring toss to Scott with two minutes remaining.

Sophomore kicker Stephen Blose executed a perfect onside kick and redshirt freshman Scott Sentner recovered at the YSU 48. But Campbell was intercepted three plays later.

In the Penguins’ opening series, YSU moved from its own 20 to the Bears’ 32 before being stopped on a fourth-and-four situation.

Williams came in for the second series and the drive halted at midfield. Junior punter Ben Nowicki took a low snap from center, had to take a couple of steps and then kicked off the side of his foot for just seven yards. Missouri State turned that miscue into seven points.

On YSU’s third series, Campbell raced 24 yards. But that drive stalled out at the Bears 35 when on fourth-and-one Campbell was stopped short.

The Penguins forced a fumble by Kingjack Washington and YSU’s Mike Barlak recovered at the Bears 38.

Scott raced 13 yards on his first handoff from Campbell and went 20 yards on the second, but fumbled at the 5-yard line where YSU’s Eric Rodemoyer recovered at the Bears 1. On the next play, Scott dove over for the touchdown.

mollica@vindy.com