Penguins solve slow start woes

For five weeks, Youngstown State football fans have been waiting to see their Penguins come out of the gate playing like everybody has expected them to do this season.

Saturday night, the Penguins did just that. YSU had a first half where they could do nothing wrong.

The offense was churning on all cylinders, running and passing and scoring on its first five possessions, Meanwhile, the defense was shutting down Western Illinois, holding the Leathernecks to 57 total yards and forcing two turnovers.

The result: a 31-0 halftime lead, and everybody was happy.

Then the second half began, and the fans began to shake in their seats.

The offense that was unstoppable in the first 30 minutes suddenly couldn’t get a first down.

And the defense, which was like a brick wall in the first half, suddenly turned to straw. As good as the Penguins played in the first half, they played as poorly in the second.

A 31-21 victory still was a good win in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and the win keeps the Penguins’ hopes alive for both a conference title and a postseason berth.

But until they learn how to play a full 60 minutes, those hopes could be very short lived.

The Penguins do not have a game this weekend. It is their open date. When they return to action on Oct. 24, they begin a three-game stretch that includes Southern Illinois (4-1, 3-0), South Dakota State (4-1, 3-0) and Northern Iowa (5-1, 2-0).

The Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa games are both on the road. The Penguins are 1-5 against the Salukis and 0-8 against the Panthers in recent years.

One of Saturday’s biggest plays came during that second half when the Penguins weren’t doing many things right.

Senior cornerback Lenny Wicks, who has only been back in the lineup for three weeks after recuperating from offseason knee surgery, came up with the gem.

Western Illinois was driving for its second straight touchdown of the half when Wicks came up and made a big tackle on WIU tailback Dre Gibbs. While taking him down, Wicks stripped the ball and recovered it to kill the drive.

“He was hanging onto it pretty good until I hit him, then I just knew the ball was mine,” Wicks said.

A couple of the Penguins have different views about this week’s open date.

Senior tailback Kevin Smith doesn’t like it.

“You want to keep playing, especially after a win,” Smith said. “I know that I’d rather play than have the week off.”

Wicks, on the other hand, thinks it’s a good thing.

“Right now, after six tough games, the off week looks pretty good,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of bumps and bruises to mend this week, but really the rest will feel good.”

The off week doesn’t mean the Penguins won’t be working out. They will hold a special practice session today for the freshmen and redshirt freshmen. The whole team will workout Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon before head coach Jon Heacock gives them Friday and Saturday off.

Sunday, they will begin preparations for Southern Illinois.

Heacock plans to use the week to find out and fix some of the things that went wrong in the second half against the Leathernecks.

“You have to remember that this is the Missouri Valley Conference and every game, no matter what the records or how many times you have beaten a team, will be a battle and we’ve got to be prepared to play a full 60 minutes.” Heacock said.

“Western Illinois did a good job in the second half against us,” he said. “They made adjustments that shut down things that were working well for us in the first half and we couldn’t run the football.”

The YSU men’s and women’s basketball teams will begin practice next week for the 2009-10 season.

The Penguin Club also will hold its annual Meet the Team Tip-Off Dinner on Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. in the Main Area of Beeghly Center. Head coaches Jerry Slocum and Cindy Martin will have their squads on hand and give an inside preview of what’s to come this season.

XPete Mollica writes about YSU athletics for The Vindicator. E-mail him at mollica@vindy.com.