Barnes, Horne, Wilson receive top YSU awards for UNI contest

By Pete Mollica

Barnes was named Missouri Valley Football Conference special teams player of the week.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State sophomore Dominique Barnes was called into action last week to return kickoffs after the team’s regular return man, Ferlando Williams was unable to play because of a staph infection, which will probably sideline him for the rest of the season.

Barnes, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound wide receiver from Southfield, Mich., returned two kickoffs in the 21-20 loss to Northern Iowa, but they totaled 105 yards, one for 57 yards and the second for 48 yards.

Barnes also caught three passes in the game for another 22 yards and his 127 all-purpose yards was the best effort of the game for the Penguins.

For his efforts Barnes was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference special teams player of the week, while he also was selected as the team’s Hill, Barth and King special teams player of the week by the YSU coaching staff.

“Dominique had some good blocking on both of those runs,” said YSU coach Jon Heacock. “He had a couple of great blocks that really sprung him loose.

“He has those natural instincts in returning kicks, which is something that you must have in order to be successful,” Heacock added. “It’s something that you just can’t teach.”

For the season Barnes has returned 10 kickoffs for 255 yards and a team-leading 25.5 yard per return average. Williams has returned 15 kickoffs for 269 yards. Barnes’ 57-yarder was his longest of the season and the longest by any Penguin player this year.

The team’s top offensive performer this week was senior wide receiver Da’Michael Horne, who had five receptions for 64 yards and one touchdown, which came on an 18-yard pass from junior quarterback Brandon Summers.

The Hill, Barth and King defensive player of the week was senior cornerback De’Angelo Wilson. The Sacramento, Calif., native finished the game with seven tackles, one of them for a loss, had an interception, which was his fourth of the season and also had three pass breakups.

Wilson is also the only senior listed on the Penguins starting defensive unit for this week’s conference matchup at Illinois State Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

“De’Angelo is a leader back there,” said YSU defensive backfield assistant coach Sherod Holmes. “He’s got a lot of pressure on his shoulders back there, but that comes with being a senior and he handles it very well.”

Sophomore defensive tackle Torrance Nicholson made his first start last Saturday since the season’s second game at South Dakota State.

The 6-3, 300-pound standout suffered a fracture in his leg in the first half of that game and finally worked his way back into the lineup against the Panthers.

He responded with a team-high 12 tackles, three of them for losses and one quarterback sack, and was named the Jermaine Hopkins defensive lineman of the game.

“It was tough out there, especially early in the game,” said Nicholson. “But I got more comfortable as the game went on. It was a little strange out there playing with all those young kids, but they’ve really come a long way over the season.”

Heacock was also happy to have the big tackle back in the lineup.

“He’s a big body, a 300-pounder, and he does a great job out there,” Heacock said. “It was a big plus for our defense to have him back, he definitely made a difference.”

Nicholson was also named the Haines Family player of the game by the YSU radio broadcast team.

The Jim Zdelar offensive lineman of the week honor went to senior center Brad Samsa, who helped the Penguins roll up 300 yards of offense. The 6-3, 290-pounder from Howland High School has started every game this season at center.

mollica@vindy.com