43
Youngstown State makes Austin pay
Photo
YSU's Andre Elliot (2) sacks Austin Peay's Trent Caffee (7) during the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.
Photo
YSU's Kevin Smith (1) is caught by Austin Peay's Nick Clark (48) while driving down field during the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.
College football | Week 2
The Penguins overcame a slow start to roll to a 38-21 victory against the Governors in the home opener.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN — It took the Youngstown State football team a while to get going, but once the Penguins started there was no stopping them.
Trailing 14-3 in the second quarter the Penguins then ran off 28 unanswered points and went on to post a 38-21 victory over Austin Peay University before 16,389 fans at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Penguins (1-1) saw their first drive end with a blocked punt that was recovered by the Governors in the end zone for a touchdown and it took them a while to recover from that early miscue.
“You get a punt blocked like that and it really sets you on your heels for a while, but I thought our kids went into this game ready to play,” said YSU coach Jon Heacock. “Had we not been prepared there is probably no way we would have recovered from that.”
The Penguins’ senior leadership took over and behind quarterback Brandon Summers, wide receiver Donald Jones and tailback Kevin Smith, they came to life midway in the second quarter. Outside of one letdown, YSU dominated the Governors (1-1) the rest of the way.
“We had one little spell in there where we got too happy with the way things were going and didn’t play up to our potential,” Heacock said. “I wasn’t too happy about that.”
But with Summers connecting on 17-of-24 passes for 232 yards and four touchdowns, Jones catching two of those TD passes including an incredible grab in the end zone in the third quarter, and Smith rushing for 115 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown, the Penguins just took over.
And it wasn’t just the offense as senior defensive end Mychal Savage was the leader on the other side of the football. He recorded five tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, a forced fumble and recovered that fumble to set the tone.
“What can I say? The seniors are playing great football,” Heacock said.
Summers, who didn’t practice much this past week because of the flu bug, said he was ready by game time.
“I felt much better and was ready to go before the game,” he said.
Although he tied the school record for touchdown passes in a game (he had already tied the mark last season) he still felt it could have been better.
“I felt that I needed to get off to a better start,” he added. “I didn’t play up to my expectations early in the game. I thought I finished up pretty good.
Sophomore defensive back Sir Demarco Bledsoe, who led the Penguins for the second straight game with 15 tackles, agreed with his quarterback.
“We knew we didn’t play our hardest in the first half, but I think everybody just stepped up the second half and that was the difference.”
The Penguins had trouble on the opening drive and when senior punter Ben Nowicki was kicking from his own 20, Austin Peay’s Ricky Thomas raced up the middle and blocked the kick and teammate Adrian Mines fell on the ball in the end zone.
The Penguins had to settle for a 31-yard Stephen Blose field goal on their next drive, but Savage gave them another opportunity when he spilled Governor’s quarterback Trent Caffee, stripped the ball and recovered at the Peay 49.
After the Penguins couldn’t push it over, this time Blose hit the right upright on a 21-yard field goal attempt and the Governors made them pay.
Caffee hit Mines with a 43-yard pass play and three plays later Caffee carried over from the 1 and a 14-3 lead midway in the second quarter.
But the Penguins finally woke up and Summers first hit sophomore tight end Andy Colegrove with a 4-yard TD pass and then Smith raced 8 yards for the second score that gave the Penguins their first lead of the game, 17-14 which held up to halftime.
The Penguins returned the favor to the Governors as the second half began as junior Andre Elliott blocked a Ryan Key punt at the Governors’ 30 yard line. Summers then fired to the end zone for Jones from 20 yards out and the big receiver went up over two defenders to pull down the pass for the score.
Summers and Jones again connected on an 18-yard scoring pass before the defense had their one big lapse and allowed Peay to drive 75 yards in 14 plays for its final score on a 4-yard pass from Caffee to Darryl Miller.
YSU’s final score came on a 16-yard pass from Summers to Dominique Barnes.
mollica@vindy.com
SEE ALSO: Missouri Valley Conference roundup Saturday’s other games.
YSU notebook \ More from Stambaugh Stadium
Better seats: Some of the crowd of 16,389 had better seats than others Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. Youngstown State is replacing all of the chairback seats on the west side of the stadium. Unfortunately only two-thirds of the new seats had been replaced by Saturday’s opener, so one section still had to sit in the old seats. Since the Penguins don’t play another home game until Oct. 3 it’s a good bet that all of the new seats will be in place by then.
First block: YSU’s senior punter Ben Nowicki had his first punt of the game blocked by Austin Peay, and it was the first time in his YSU career that he’s had a punt blocked. Nowicki had made 98 punts prior in his career with the Penguins without having one blocked. In fact it was the first punt the Penguins have had blocked since Nov. 22, 2005, against Missouri State. The Penguins returned the favor in the third quarter when Andre Elliott blocked a Governors’ punt. That was the first YSU punt block since Dorian Chenault’s in 2007 against South Dakota State.
Jones hot: Senior wide receiver Donald Jones caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns Saturday. He now has caught seven touchdown passes in his last six games. He had four catches for 34 yards in the opener against Pitt, which was a team high.
Records, streaks: The Penguins improved to 7-2 all time against Austin Peay. YSU is now 45-22-2 all-time in home openers and 21-6-1 at Stambaugh Stadium. The Penguins have won their last 14 home openers, and head coach Jon Heacock is 9-0 in home openers.
Offensive stats: The Penguins finished with 205 rushing yards on 47 attempts, led by Kevin Smith’s 115 yards on 20 carries. They added 232 yards passing for 437 total yards compared to Austin Peay’s 222 total yards on 64 net yards rushing and 158 passing.
Defensive stats: Sir Demarco Bledsoe again led the Penguins in total tackles with 15, while linebacker Deonta Tate added nine. The Penguins sacked Austin Peay quarterbacks four times and had eight tackles for losses. Redshirt freshman defensive back Brian Gaiters, who made his first career start in the secondary, had his first pass interception.
Missing the action: Senior defensive tackle Crispin Fernandez, the only defensive player who started every game a year ago, had his streak snapped at 13 when he came down with a very bad cold and did not dress for Saturday’s contest.
Up next: The Penguins will go on the road for their next two games. Next Saturday they will play at Northeastern University in Boston in a 1 p.m. kickoff. They will then open Missouri Valley Football Conference play on Sept. 26 when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., to take on Indiana State in a 12:05 p.m. kickoff.