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Penguins desperate for a road win today at SIU
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The last time Youngstown State won a road game, Eric Wolford was coaching the offensive line at South Carolina and Marc Kanetsky was securing his spot in the Hubbard High record book as the quarterback with the highest winning percentage in school history.
“It’s been very frustrating for us, at least since I’ve been here,” said Wolford, whose team is 0-7 on the road in his two seasons.
The Penguins (2-3, 1-2 Missouri Valley) will get their best chance to snap that streak when they play Southern Illinois (2-3, 1-2) today. YSU hasn’t won in Carbondale since 2001 but with two league losses and road games against Northern Iowa and North Dakota State looming next month, it would be a good time to pull the upset.
“Our goal is to win every game, home or away, but it would definitely be good to get that [streak] off our backs,” said freshman linebacker Teven Williams.
The Penguins’ last road win came in the season finale at North Dakota State two years ago. Kanetsky, now the backup to Kurt Hess, started the only game of his career and threw a touchdown pass on the first series before getting replaced by Brandon Summers, who rallied YSU to a 39-35 victory.
That was 693 days ago.
But for all their struggles on the road, the Penguins have been competitive in nearly every game. Last season, they lost at Western Illinois and Northern Iowa — both playoff teams — by a combined six points. Their lone conference road loss this year was by two points to Indiana State.
“I think sometimes it’s a little easier to handle if you’re getting blown out because you realize, ‘Hey, this team is flat-out better than us,’” said Wolford. “But we’re losing so many games that are coming down to four or five plays. We’re really in every game.
“It’s frustrating because we know we’re at the point where we’re getting over the hump, we’ve just got to show that we can do it.”
Wolford said he adjusted some of the team’s road plans this weekend — “Just to try to change things up,” he said — and the Penguins were scheduled to arrive in Carbondale around 2:30 on Friday, so there’s plenty of time to get acclimated.
Ultimately, Wolford said, winning on the road comes down to maturity.
“We have a young football team and we’re not going to use that as an excuse by no means,” he said. “There’s a maturity level and we’re going to continue to do the things we need to do to keep these guys focused.”