Penguins cured at Stambaugh

It wasn’t picture perfect, but it certainly was a lot better than the season opener.

Saturday, the Youngstown State University football team won its 14th straight season home opener, beating the Austin Peay Governors 38-21. The Penguins trailed 14-3 early in the second quarter before they came alive and took control of the contest.

YSU head coach Jon Heacock never hesitated when he gave credit for the turnaround to his senior players.

“They were the difference and they’ve been the difference ever since the season ended a year ago,” Heacock said. “Our seniors played great today, but then again these are the same kids who last spring in 30 degree temperatures were out there every day at 6:30 a.m. leading this group and taking charge of the team.

“These 12 kids are taking charge, they monitor the other players in their class work and on the football field and they showed what they are made up today,” he added.

Seniors like quarterback Brandon Summers, tailback Kevin Smith, wide receiver Donald Jones and defensive end Mychal Savage were the spark behind the Penguins’ comeback against the Governors.

For just about any other quarterback, Saturday’s effort by Summers would have been a great performance — four touchdown passes, 232 yards passing and 17-of-24 passing without an interception.

But the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder wasn’t satisfied with his performance, especially the early part of the game.

“I really didn’t play well at the start,” Summers said.

He didn’t mention that he missed several days of practice with the flu bug and never really felt 100 percent until just before game time.

Summers loves to throw to his talented receivers, led by Jones and including senior Aaron Pitts and junior Dominique Barnes.

Jones caught six passes for 82 yards and two TD passes, including an unbelievable touchdown catch in the third quarter when he went up over two defenders and pulled in the pass.

“I’m not surprised at anything he does,” Summers said. “He makes a lot of catches like that every day in practice.”

Summers also gave a lot of credit to the YSU defense.

“We came up with some big plays, but those guys on defense were the ones who set up a lot of those opportunities,” he added.

Sophomore defensive back Sir Demarco Bledsoe had another big game Saturday. The transfer from TCU finished with 15 tackles to lead the team for the second straight week. He also had an interception right in his hands but couldn’t hold onto it.

“Boy, would I love to have that one back,” he said. “I should of had it.

Bledsoe said that with the defense back to full strength this year and healthy, it’s a pleasure to work with them.

“Those guys up front just do an outstanding job,” he said. “Mychal [Savage] is the leader and he keeps everybody in line. We knew we didn’t play our best early in the game and he really let us know about it.”

Stambaugh Stadium looked pretty good for the home opener on Saturday.

The two new flag poles were put to good use, although the one holding the huge American flag seems to need to be bigger.

The new scoreboard was up and running, although it wasn’t much help to the media in the press box since it faces down the field and almost impossible to read from our seats. But I guess it was put in for the fans, who actually pay to see the games.

The new chairback seats looked great even though they were only two-thirds of the way finished. Hopefully by the next home game, which isn’t until Oct. 3, they will all be replaced. The new red seats really show up well in the stadium.

The Penguins will be on the road for their next two games, beginning Saturday at Northeastern University in Boston. The Huskies (0-2) suffered a 17-7 loss to Maine on Saturday and also dropped their season opener to Boston University 54-0. Kickoff will be at 1 p.m.

The following week, the Penguins travel to Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind., for their Missouri Valley Football Conference opener. Kickoff is set for 12:05 p.m.

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