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YSU freshman throws 4 TD passes in win over Butler
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
A week’s rest wasn’t enough to heal Dante Nania’s ankle injury.
Watching Hunter Wells on Saturday ought to do it.
Making his first collegiate start, Wells, the true freshman from Fairless High, completed 16 of 22 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns to lead Youngstown State to a 44-13 win over Butler at Stambaugh Stadium.
“A lot of it’s due to the great coaching we have,” said Wells (6-foot-5, 195 pounds), who holds Stark County’s career passing record. “Coach [Shane] Montgomery has prepared me really well for this. And the people around me — it’s easy to come in and play when you have a bunch of great athletes around you.”
As you can see, he did OK afterward, too.
“Just for Hunter being a freshman, his demeanor is very composed,” said senior Jelani Berassa, who caught six passes for a career-best 167 yards and three TDs. “Since training camp, he’s always composed and collected and that brings a great thing to our offense. It could be a hard game or a hard situation going on, third down, he’s composed and he’s ready and he knows what he’s doing.”
Martin Ruiz added 108 yards rushing on 21 carries with a TD and Joey Cejudo made three field goals for YSU (2-1), which trailed 10-3 at the end of the first quarter before pulling away.
“We’ve been talking about finishing all week,” said senior cornerback Julius Childs, who tied for the team high with 11 tackles. “That’s been the main key. I think we came together as a team in the locker room and said, ‘We need to finish this game like we said all week and become a better team.’ ”
Butler quarterback Matt Shiltz put a scare into the Penguins for one quarter, throwing for 128 yards and a TD in the first 15 minutes. But the non-scholarship Bulldogs didn’t have the depth or the playmakers to hang around.
Shiltz finished 21 of 31 for 221 yards and a touchdown and also ran 18 times for 75 yards for Butler (1-1), which had to rally in the second half last week to beat Division III Wittenberg.
“We got a good effort from Butler,” Penguins coach Eric Wolford said. “We did a much better job in the second half of finishing. I thought it was impressive that our defense came out and basically shut them out in the second half. I like the adjustments we made there and just our focus overall.
“It’s progress and we’ll move forward.”
Whether they’ll be doing that with Nania or Wells remains to be seen. Nania injured his ankle late in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Duquesne and didn’t practice this week, but Wolford said he could have played if it had been a Missouri Valley Football Conference game.
When asked if Wells’ performance changed his mindset about the quarterbacks, Wolford said, “I don’t even think about those kinds of things. Right now, Dante is scheduled to come back and play next week, but I think the good thing is, we know we can play a lot of guys.”
The Penguins play host to Saint Francis (Pa.) next week, then have a bye until their conference opener against Missouri State on Oct. 4. Wells said he’s OK with whatever scenario, but given Nania’s injury history (he’s been knocked out of three of his last five games, including one as a holder), Wells will probably play at some point.
And if Saturday’s game is any indication, Wells will play well.