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Home spotlight will shine on YSU, Pelini
Stambaugh improvements
on display Saturday night
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
One thing is certain on Saturday night at Stambaugh Stadium: Robert Morris is going to get lit up.
Youngstown State, too.
The Penguins will debut their new scoreboards and improved lighting when they welcome the Colonials, a partial-scholarship FCS program from the Pittsburgh area. The upgrades cost $1 million — all the money came from external dollars, including $400,000 from Pepsi for the main digital scoreboard — and while they’ve already been used for Mooney and Ursuline games, they’re new to YSU football.
“I don’t know where they’re getting the money to do all that, but it does look nice out there,” YSU senior wide receiver Andrew Williams joked. “I’m excited to see how it works.”
Speaking of new things, Saturday also marks the home debut of Penguins coach Bo Pelini and the team’s first football game against Robert Morris.
While Colonials and Penguins have a nice rivalry in men’s basketball, Saturday’s football game figures to be lopsided. Robert Morris, which lost to Dayton 27-24 last weekend, competes in the Northeast Conference, which has a 40-scholarship limit, compared to 63 for Missouri Valley teams.
The Colonials went 1-10 last season and haven’t had a winning season since 2010, but Pelini was complimentary when asked about them this week.
“I think they’re an improved football team,” Pelini said. “I think they’re getting better. You watch the film from last year and then their film from Saturday and I think Coach [John] Banaszak is doing a good job. They’re getting better. They’re making progress.
“From a coaching standpoint, you always want to see, ‘Are they on the uptake?’ I think they surely are. From the talent standpoint and how they play ... [it’s] not even close to where they were a year ago, which says a lot about what they’re doing over there.”
There are two Valley natives on the Colonials’ roster. Backup defensive end Austin Trgovcich is a Cardinal Mooney High graduate who spent the 2013 season at YSU, then transferred to Robert Morris. Freshman linebacker Adam Wollet, a Poland High graduate who does not appear on the two-deep chart, was offered a scholarship to YSU after Pelini was hired but chose the Colonials instead. Wollet’s older brother, Luke, was a standout safety at Kent State who earned a tryout with the New Orleans Saints.
The game will also pit two brothers against each other. YSU junior Tanner Garry, the Penguins’ primary holder, will face off against Robert Morris junior linebacker Corey Garry, who plays on special teams.
Ideally, YSU players like Tanner Garry (a third-string quarterback) will see the field by the fourth quarter, since this game — and next week’s home game against Saint Francis — is designed to build depth.
If all goes well, the Penguins will be showing off more than just their facility upgrades.
“I’ve always been one to say you can never really see how a game is going to go,” said Pelini, whose team lost to Pitt 45-37 last week. “I want to play well and I want us to play more efficiently and take care of us. Make sure that we’re executing, we’re understanding the game plan and we’re playing at a high level.
“I think we need to make a big jump from Game 1 to Game 2.”