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Flag football: Penguins must cut down penalties
YSU vs Penn St.
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SEE ALSO: ‘We can play with anybody’
By JOE SCALZO
YOUNGSTOWN
It doesn’t take much yellow for YSU coach Eric Wolford to see red.
YSU was penalized eight times for 65 yards in a 44-14 loss to Penn State, one of big blemishes on an otherwise promising opener.
Six of the eight were pre-snap penalties (offsides, illegal procedure, delay of game). Four of the eight gave Penn State first downs on eventual scoring drives.
“Penalties killed us,” said senior cornerback Brandian Ross. “We’ll have them third and one, third and two and stop them — offsides.
“It just changes the whole mood of the team after a big penalty.”
Wolford said he can live with occasional roughing the passer or holding penalties provided they’re from aggression and not mental mistakes.
It’s the correctable penalties that irritate him.
“When I look back at the film, the penalties that happened before and after the whistle are the big penalties that stick out,” said Wolford, YSU’s head coach.
“I can handle an aggressive penalty, but the ones before and after the whistle are the foolish ones we’ve got to eliminate.”
Wolford didn’t agree with every call — he got pretty animated on the sidelines, with one reporter joking that his headset was off more than it was on — but he doesn’t consider that an excuse for sloppy play.
“Calls are calls,” he said. “Some are good and some are bad, but you can’t make excuses about it.
“We’ve got to get better at those types of things.”
It all comes down to discipline, something Wolford has preached to his team before Saturday’s game and since.
“It’s obvious they didn’t push us around and we can play with anyone, but we have to be more disciplined,” said junior defensive end Andrew Johnson. “And I think we can always be more physical. I think we can hustle more to the ball.
“But for the most part I think everybody played hard.”
Playing hard is one thing. Winning is another.
Wolford doesn’t want to be satisfied with moral victories, even against Big Ten teams.
“Hopefully one of these days, we’ll expect to do more than just score a touchdown or two,” he said. “I would hope some day we can get our program to where we expect to beat one of those teams.
“We expected to beat ’em. I’d just like to see us get the job done.”