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Penguin defenders rule
Special to the Vindicator
Photo
The White team’s Allen Jones (28), pursued by the Red’s Gannon Hulea (16), breaks away on a long run. Jones, a third-string running back, rushed 11 times for a game-high 159 yards, including a 94-yard TD early in the third quarter that showcased his breakaway speed.
Special to the Vindicator
Photo
Kurt Hess (12), starting quarterback for the Red team, sprints down the field past White defenders Ali Cheaib (51), Thomas Sprague (34) and Obinna Ekweremuba (90) during the Youngstown State football team’s annual spring game Saturday at YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium. Hess completed 11 of 19 passes for 139 yards and one touchdown, but the Red team was defeated by the White, 24-14.
Penguins’ starting defense engineers a 24-14 victory in annual spring game
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Maybe it was disrespect. Maybe it was the downpour. Maybe they were just due.
Whatever the reason, Youngstown State’s starting defenders saw red on Saturday and smelled blood.
Thanks to two turnovers, including a big play by senior cornerback Josh Lee, and a disruptive performance by sophomore linebacker Thomas Sprague, the White team (which featured YSU’s starting defense and backup offense) shut down the Red (starting offense, backup defense) for a surprising 24-14 spring game victory on a rainy, miserable day at Stambaugh Stadium.
“I like what our No. 1 defense did,” said YSU coach Eric Wolford, who saw his starting defense get strafed in a scrimmage last weekend. “Those guys stepped up today.
“All championship teams have a good defense.”
Sprague had four tackles for loss, including a sack, and Lee forced a fumble at the tail end of a 39-yard run by junior RB Jamaine Cook in the second quarter in a stout performance by a defense that, at times, looked overmatched this spring.
Meanwhile, third-string running back Allen Jones (Ursuline) rushed 11 times for a game-high 159 yards, including a 94-yard TD early in the third quarter that showcased his breakaway speed.
“In my mindset, I feel if you get behind the safeties, no one should be able to catch you,” Jones said. “There was a lot of talk going on through the whole week about who’s going to win the game and as a White team leader, I wanted to everybody we can do it, that we can go toe-to-toe with the ones [starters].
“That’s what we came out and did today.”
Cook carried 11 times for 93 yards and a TD, while starter Kurt Hess completed 11 of 19 passes for 139 yards, including four to Andre Barboza for 69 yards. His lone TD pass came just before halftime, when he scrambled out of the pocket and lobbed a 23-yard pass into the end zone to RB Adaris Bellamy, who broke free on a wheel route down the left sideline.
“The weather was tough out there,” Hess said. “It was wet, rainy, windy — everything you can think of.
“Once we got our minds off the weather, we started playing football.”
Third-stringer Patrick Angle might have played the best of the four quarterbacks, completing 6 of 10 passes for 78 yards with a 10-yard TD pass to Pat White on a pretty fade route midway through the first quarter.
“I thought I threw the ball pretty well, which gives me a lot of confidence going into fall camp,” said Angle, who redshirted last fall. “Sometimes it felt like I had to shot put [the ball] out to the receivers because it was hard to grip, but I just had to battle through it.”
White (Warren Harding) finished with a game-high five catches for 68 yards. But the receivers dropped at least a half-dozen passes and struggled with the same inconsistency that has plagued the unit throughout the spring.
“We’ve got to get more consistent at catching the football,” Wolford said. “That will be a focus for us all summer and we’ll have guys out there that are going to catch the football.
“It was slick but we’re not going to accept any excuses. We’re not in the excuse business.”