Pelini’s arrival, Penguins’ playoff miss highlight 2015

Staff report

1It was a Youngstown State football season that began with big expectations under high-profile coach Bo Pelini.

And after the Penguins won three of their first four games, things seemed to be going according to plan in the Cardinal Mooney graduate’s homecoming.

However, YSU lost five of its final eight games — four by seven or fewer points — as the Penguins finished 5-6 (3-5 Missouri Valley Football Conference) and missed the FCS playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.

No sports story was bigger in the Mahoning Valley than YSU’s hiring of Pelini — after his controversial firing at Nebraska — but the Penguins again stumbled late.

YSU controlled its destiny heading into a Week 11 matchup with four-time defending champion North Dakota State. But after taking a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Penguins suffered a meltdown and lost and Pelini blew up.

Upset with a pass interference call against YSU right before the Bison scored a go-ahead TD, Pelini berated the officials and was slappedunsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the final 30 seconds.

While it eliminated any chance of a Penguins comeback, the incident also resulted in a reprimand from the MVFC offices for Pelini, who was in and out of trouble for his comments and sideline antics in seven seasons with the Cornhuskers.

2 No doubt, the 2014-15 Ohio State football team saved its best for last.

After a not-so-convincing undefeated run through the Big Ten in the regular season, the Buckeyes crushed Wisconsin, 59-0, in their final game of 2014 (the conference championship game) before starting 2015 with a Jan. 1 matchup with Alabama in the inaugural College Football Playoff.

Going in as underdogs, Ohio State upset Alabama, 42-35, at the Sugar Bowl to set up a national championship contest with Oregon on Jan. 12.

The Buckeyes handled the Ducks even better, defeating Oregon, 42-20, to earn Urban Meyer and OSU the CFP trophy.

Billy Price, an Austintown Fitch graduate, started the entire season as a freshman offensive guard for the national champions.

3 Just three days before Christmas, Detroit boxer Hamzah Ajahmi died from injuries he sustained while making his professional boxing debut.

Ajahmi, 19, was participating in local promoter Jack Loew’s “Season’s Beatings” pro-am at the St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Banquet Center. He fought Warren native Anthony Taylor, who was also making his pro boxing debut. Ajahmi was knocked down three times as he lost the first round. He rallied to win the next two rounds, but in the fourth round, he collapsed without being punched.

Paramedics rushed him to the intensive care unit at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery and eventually died.

The death brings back awful memories of another tragedy involving a local boxer. In 1982, Youngstown’s Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini squared off against South Korean Duk Koo Kim in Las Vegas. After the 14-round fight that ended in Mancini’s favor, Kim died from brain trauma.

After Ajahmi’s death, Loew said he would try to get Mancini in touch with Taylor to give him advice. In the meantime, he has suspended future boxing showcases.

While the Mahoning Valley’s boxing community is saddened by Ajahmi’s death, none of the area’s trainers have called for changes to the sport and appear unified in saying no one is at fault for the fighter’s death.

4 Most Cleveland Cavaliers fans expected the return of LeBron James to mean a return contender status.

He made that happen and then almost single-handedly ended Cleveland’s 51-year professional sports championship drought. Missing key contributors Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love because of injuries, the Akron native had an NBA Finals for the ages against the Golden State Warriors. He couldn’t get off the court. In fact, his usage rate was historic. He played all but 24 minutes of the Finals’ 298 minutes. He made the most of that time, averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. Backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova turned himself into a cult hero with his scrappy style of play filling in for Irving.

Although the Cavs took two of the series’ first three games to capture the city’s imagination, it was the Warriors who took home the championship in six games.

5 Hubbard native L.J. Scott could have easily stayed in-state and joined 2014 national champion Ohio State to continue his playing career.

However, the record-setting 2015 Eagles graduate chose to attend Michigan State instead.

And he chose correctly.

On Nov. 21, Scott and the Spartans went into Columbus and upset the top-ranked Buckeyes, 17-14. Then on Dec. 5, Michigan State matched up with undefeated Iowa in the Big Ten championship game with a trip to the College Football Playoff at stake.

Trailing 13-9 in the fourth quarter, the Spartans used a 22-play, 82-yard scoring drive that lasted just over nine minutes to knock off the Hawkeyes. And Scott was the main ingredient — receiving 14 carries and scoring the game-winning TD on a 1-yard run with just 27 seconds remaining.

“Everybody was counting on me,” Scott said. “All my coaches and teammates were counting on me. I just tried to come through for the team and come through for my brothers.”

Next, Scott and MSU play Alabama in a College Football Playoff semifinal on Thursday at 8 p.m.

6 Thanks to 17-game winning streak, the Youngstown Phantoms won their first team trophy in six seasons in the USHL.

The Phantoms won every game in February and didn’t lose again until late March to win the Anderson Cup, the trophy awarded to the league’s regular-season champion.

The Phantoms shattered the franchise’s records for wins (40 in 60 games) and points (86). The team won 23 more games than during the 2013-14 campaign.

“I’d be shocked if that 17-game win streak gets touched any time, especially in the near future,” then-Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen said.

Kyle Connor (University of Michigan) won the USHL scoring championship, scoring 34 goals and making 46 assists for 80 points, nine more than Sioux City’s Adam Johnson.

Two other Phantoms finished in the league’s Top 10. With 64 points, Max Letunov (Boston University) tied Sioux City’s Joe Snively and Muskegon’s Griffen Molino for fourth. Josh Melnick (Miami University) finished in eight place with 62 points.

Awarded the top seed for the eight-team playoffs, the Phantoms stumbled in the first round, losing 3-1 to the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It was the first time in three postseason appearances that the Phantoms did not win a first-round matchup.

The team had a very busy summer. In late June, Connor was selected 17th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL Draft, the first time a Phantom had been taken in the first round.

Five other players with ties to the Phantoms were drafted: defenseman Ryan Shea (Blackhawks, fourth round), left wing Luke Stevens (Hurricanes, fifth round), center Chase Pearson (Red Wings, fifth round), center Patrick Shea (Panthers, seventh round) and goaltender Ryan Bednard (Panthers, seventh round).

A week later, Noreen’s four-year reign as head coach ended when he was hired by the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.

In late July, Phantoms co-owners Troy and Aafke Loney hired John Wroblewski, who had been an assistant with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, to replace Noreen.

7 In 11 seasons as head coach of the Poland football team, Mark Brungard compiled a record of 88-37. In the last nine seasons, the Bulldogs qualified for the playoffs and won four league titles.

In November, a few days after the Bulldogs lost to Louisville in the playoffs, Brungard stepped down as head coach.

“This decision simply came down to my desire to take a larger role as a dad,” Brungard said. “My children are at an age where I want to be involved and be a part of their activities.”

Brungard is the father of four children, ages 15, 13, 12 and 8. His oldest son is a freshman at Springfield High and will be part of the Springfield varsity football team next year.

“I’m looking forward to just being a dad, just being a fan,” said Brungard, who played quarterback at Youngstown State and helped the Penguins win Division I-AA national titles in 1993 and ‘94.

Earlier this month, Poland promoted assistant Ryan Williams as Brungard’s successor.

8 When the high school softball season began, Champion was expected to be one of the Mahoning Valley’s better teams. But state champions for the third time in five seasons? Few saw it coming.

Behind the pitching of senior Haylee Gardiner, the Golden Flashes won the school’s sixth softball championship.

It wasn’t as easy as it looked. In the regional semifinals against Waynedale, Champion trailed 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Megan Turner’s two-run hit tied the game and the Golden Flashes went on to win 6-5 in nine innings.

After Gardiner shut out Elyria Catholic 4-0 in the regional final, the Golden Flashes had a five-run lead over North Union in the seventh inning when the Ladycats’ scored twice and brought the potential tying run to the plate. It took 10 pitches but Gardiner retired the final North Union batter with a flyout for a 6-3 victory.

Two days later, head coach Cheryl Weaver celebrated her third state crown since 2011 as Gardiner fired a two-hit shoutout in a 4-0 win over Bloom-Carroll.

“I pitched one of my better games, if not the best,” Gardiner said of her last competitive game. “This wasn’t something that was expected but something we’ve worked hard for and earned.”

Gardiner is now a pre-med student at Ohio State University.

9 When the Youngstown State men’s basketball team notched its first win of the 2015-16 season, it certainly carried some extra weight.

The victory was No. 700 for 11th-year Penguins head coach Jerry Slocum, making him the 38th coach in NCAA history to reach the feat. The win came in a 79-69 defeat of North Dakota on Nov. 23 at the Florida Gulf Coast University Classic, as senior center Bobby Hain led the way with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

It took Slocum — who currently owns a career record of 704-522 — 41 years to win 700 games.

While he’s 123-198 at YSU, he won 179 games at Gannon University, 203 at Geneva College and 199 at Nyack.

“I’m excited for all of the players that have played for me,” Slocum said. “I’m really excited for my wife, Kim. She’s been special and she has been through all of them.”

10 Warren JFK runner Chad Zallow completed one of the finest high school sports careers in recent memory.

After winning a Division III state title in the 110 hurdles and 100 dash, he battled cramps to win the 300 hurdles.

He didn’t have anything left to prove going into that race. He was already spoken for college-wise and holds plenty of state and school records, but still gutted it out.

A state champion in both his junior and sophomore seasons, Zallow continues to be a hometown hero when he spurned Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan to attend Youngstown State alongside his older brother, Carl.

Sportswriters Steve Wilaj, Brian Dzenis and Tom Williams contributed to this report.