YSU knocks off top-ranked North Dakota State

By KEVIN SCHNEPF

The Fargo Forum

FARGO, N.D.

A Fargo reporter asked Youngstown State quarterback Kurt Hess what he thought about his team nickname: the Penguins.

Admitting that people do give him and his teammates a hard time over the unique moniker, Hess offered this counter to the notion that Penguins aren’t tough.

“Penguins have to endure tough winters in the Arctic,” Hess said. “And in order to survive, they have to stick together. I really can’t think of a better metaphor to describe our team.”

Hess and the Penguins stuck together Saturday in the warm climate of the Fargodome to knock off unbeaten and No. 1-ranked North Dakota State with a 27-24 win that stunned a crowd of 18,450.

Hess directed an offense that piled up 451 total yards on a Bison defense ranked second nationally in points surrendered. And when the offense started to sputter in the fourth quarter, it was the Penguin defense that limited a potent Bison offense to only one field goal in the second half.

“We backed the defense up and the defense backed us up,” said Hess, a sophomore from Dayton who completed 20 of 24 passes for 237 yards.

“This is huge to beat the No. 1 team in the nation,” said Jamaine Cook, a junior tailback from Cleveland who carried the ball 33 times for 147 yards.

Youngstown’s first win over a top-ranked team since 1997 came down to a big defensive stand with less than four minutes remaining of the game.

After Ryan Smith’s 18-yard punt return to the Penguin 34, the Bison were poised to overcome their 27-24 deficit. But on third down, defensive end Daniel Stewart leveled quarterback Brock Jensen from behind. Cornerback Jimmy May followed that up by breaking up a fourth-down pass.

“That was a big one,” Stewart said of his third-down sack. “I just beat my guy inside and when I saw the quarterback, my eyes got big. I was telling our defense on that series that we have to stop them right here.”

The Bison appeared poised to build on their 21-17 halftime lead when D.J. McNorton busted free for a big gain, only to lose the ball while running untouched deep into Penguin territory. YSU recovered and marched 86 yards for a touchdown to take its first lead, 24-21.

“That was the biggest turning point of the whole game,” said McNorton, one of 18 seniors who played their final regular-season home game for the Bison.

The Bison used only nine plays and less than three minutes to score two touchdowns to build a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. The explosive offense, which averages 34 points per game, averaged more than 12 yards per play during that stretch.

At one point in the first half, the Penguins time of possession was nearly 18 minutes. NDSU’s was 4 minutes. Yet the Bison led 14-10.

It didn’t help the Penguins when NDSU’s Marcus Williams picked off a pass on the Bison 9 and returned it to the 40 – setting up NDSU’s second touchdown.

And it didn’t help when Jeremy Edwards’ interception deep in Youngstown territory was negated after Josh Fenderson was flagged for a late hit on Jensen. The Bison scored three plays later to take a 21-10 lead with 1:48 left in the half.

But the explosive Penguin offense, averaging 37 points per game, marched 79 yards in seven plays to score and cut the lead to 21-17 17 seconds before halftime. It was Jordan Thompson’s 38-yard run that helped set up Hess’ 1-yard touchdown run.

“This is the loudest environment we’ve been around,” said Youngstown State head coach Eric Wolford. “We just knew we had to hammer at adversity.”