Scalzo: Winning will make the crowds stay

As part of Saturday’s “Pack the Castle” campaign — or #PackTheCastle if you’re part of the Twitterati — Youngstown State will bring in Lowellville’s marching band, YSU/NFL player Tim Johnson (he’ll sign autographs) and at least one fire truck.

But after three blowout home wins, maybe the best thing the Penguins will bring in is this: a decent opponent.

Yes, a 2-3 Illinois State team doesn’t have the same cachet as Northern Iowa (which was poised to draw a sellout crowd at Stambaugh last year until lightning intervened) or North Dakota State (the two-time defending FCS champs haven’t been to Stambaugh since 2010), but the Redbirds aren’t Morehead State, either.

Youngstown State averaged 14,000 fans last season, but after an 0-4 October, too many of the late-season attendance figures were of the “tickets distributed” variety, which is what makes this two-game homestand so crucial.

The Penguins are 2-0 in the Missouri Valley for the first time under Eric Wolford, whose teams have been terrific at energizing the fan base early in the season — and just as good as disappointing it late. The mediocre early crowds for Dayton, Morehead State and Duquesne were due as much to the fans’ wait-and-see attitude as the overmatched competition.

But Saturday sets up a perfect storm for YSU, which endured a regular storm last week in Terre Haute and looked (mostly) like a legitimate playoff contender.

The 7 p.m. start time, combined with a terrific forecast, a full schedule of events and, yes, an Ohio State open date, has already allowed YSU to distribute 14,500 tickets.

“We’re the hometown team,” Wolford said. “I said from Day 1 we play for Youngstown. Everybody in this community and all over the place want us to get back to being the Youngstown they remember in the ’90s and that consists of supporting the team. Coming out and filling up the team and creating a hostile environment.

“Our team feeds off the crowd. It’s kind of like the fuel for the engine.”

YSU (5-1) has yet to play UNI or NDSU — the MVFC’s two best teams — but by rallying to beat Southern Illinois two weeks ago, the Penguins showed they belong in the postseason conversation.

By beating ISU and Western Illinois at home the next two weeks, they can show they deserve to stay there. They can also show YSU’s fans this year’s team has staying power.

“We should have a home field advantage,” YSU quarterback Kurt Hess said. “Stambaugh should be rocking. I’m excited for it. I hope a lot of people come out. That will give us that much more juice and that much more reason to play better.”

YSU fans know this year’s team isn’t going to win a national title. The defense just isn’t good enough (and North Dakota State is too good). But it’s not unreasonable to expect this team to be playing after Thanksgiving.

I expect Youngstown to Pack the Castle on Saturday. But if the Penguins want to keep packing it, they need to avoid their annual late-season swoon.

Winning the next two weeks would be a good start.

Joe Scalzo covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Email him at scalzo@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @JoeScalzo1.