Webb’s three scores not enough for YSU
By Steve Wilaj
TERRE HAUTE, IND.
All season, Youngstown State defensive end Derek Rivers talked about the importance of — and the Penguins’ inability to — play well simultaneously on both sides of the ball. After doing so (for the most part) for the past few weeks, YSU went back to its old ways Saturday.
The Penguins played well defensively, but produced little on offense and dropped their season finale to Indiana State, 27-24.
Even helped by two Jody Webb kick return TDs, the combination still resulted in YSU’s fifth close loss of 2015 and fittingly capped a disappointing season that ends with a 5-6 record (3-5 Missouri Valley Football Conference).
“The defense played their [butts] off,” Rivers said. “That’s just how it is. It’s a team sport -- I say that every week. It’s not one sided. The defense was going at it. The offense has to put points on the board and that’s just how it is. We weren’t gelling and working together.”
After taking a 24-21 lead on Zak Kennedy’s 25-yard field goal to begin the fourth, the Penguins’ offense failed to put the game away.
In all, YSU ran just nine plays in the fourth quarter, gained four combined-yards and failed to pick up a first down. It was an eerily similar performance to last week’s final quarter in which the Penguins blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead to North Dakota State.
The Sycamores (5-6, 3-5) ran 26 plays on offense in the fourth. YSU’s defense held strong, but ISU eventually racked up 76 combined yards and six points — the last three coming as time expired on a 38-yard field goal by Eric Heidorn.
“We just couldn’t keep our tempo at a high level — that’s our fault,” said Webb, who had a team-high 57 rushing yards on seven carries. “We can’t keep stalling and expect to win games. We gotta put up points and it’s as simple as that.”
For the day, YSU’s offense produced just 10 points, 12 first downs and 226 total yards. The Penguins rushed for 152 yards, but quarterback Hunter Wells went just 8 of 16 for 74 yards.
“We played terrible on offense. I mean, what are you gonna say?” first-year coach Bo Pelini said. “I don’t know if we even got a first down in the last quarter and a half.
“We didn’t play well enough. The first half was ridiculous — we made too many ridiculous mistakes. It shouldn’t have even been a football game.”
After jumping ahead 7-0 when Webb returned the game’s opening kickoff 93 yards for a score, YSU gave the lead back midway through the first when Martin Ruiz fumbled a handoff from Wells and ISU’s Alex Stowers returned it 37 yards for a TD.
Webb then followed with a 26-yard TD run, but Sycamores quarterback Matt Adam tied the contest midway through the second on a 14-yard run after Penguins defensive tackle Emmanuel Kromah failed to finish a sack.
Capping a wild first half, Webb returned another kickoff for a 93-yard touchdown, while Adam answered with a 74-yard TD run of his own.
“I felt like we played even better in the second half,” Rivers, a junior, said of YSU’s defense that surrendered 314 yards on 74 plays. “Stats may not have showed it, but we stopped them boys. That first 21 points they put up should have never come out, but I don’t feel like we slowed down. The defense played hard, as a whole, and I’m proud of the group I played with.”
The loss officially knocks YSU from playoff consideration, stretching its postseason drought to nine years.
“They should be disappointed,” Pelini said.