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Penguins need OT to shake Colonials
Penguins need OT to shake
Colonials
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini said last week he didn’t like moral victories.
How’s he feel about ugly ones?
“I’ll take the win,” he said following Saturday’s 21-14 overtime win over Robert Morris at Stambaugh Stadium. “I don’t necessarily like how it happened, but we won the football game.”
Sophomore quarterback Hunter Wells connected with I’tavious Harvin on a 2-yard touchdown on the first possession of overtime and junior defensive end Derek Rivers sacked Colonials quarterback Matthew Barr on fourth-and-2 at the 5 in the second possession to help the Penguins survive a closer-than-it-should-have-been home opener.
Wells struggled for much of the game, but came up big when it counted most, sidestepping an arm tackle on a rollout to buy time near the right sideline, then finding Harvin in traffic on fourth-and-goal.
“It wasn’t planned to go to me,” Harvin said, saying the play was drawn up to go to TE Shane Kuhn in the flat. “In my mind, I saw Hunter shake the defender and I knew I had to get open. I was just hoping he’d throw it to me and he did.”
“You just have to make a play in that position,” Wells added. “After I shook the guy, I just gave I’tavious a chance and put my trust in him, hoping he’d make a big play.”
When asked if he was nervous watching the play, Pelini said, “No, not really. If we make it, we make it. If we don’t, I chose to go for it and I’ll live with what happens. It’s on me at that point.”
The Colonials made things interesting in their half of overtime. On fourth-and-10 at the 25, Matthew Barr connecting on just his second pass of the game, hitting Jordan Blackmon for 13 yards. Ramses Owens then ran three times for seven yards to set up the game-clinching play.
“We blitzed and we flushed their quarterback a little bit, which is good for us because usually when Derek is sitting out there, he’s going to make the play,” Pelini said.
Added Rivers: “It was one of the plays we have to make. Games like that are fun. It was ugly, but a win’s a win.”
Still, it was a step backward for a program that gave Pitt everything it could handle last week before falling 45-37. Robert Morris, a lower-level FCS team, is coming off a 1-10 season and hasn’t had a winning record since 2010.
The Colonials (0-2) took a 7-0 lead in the first minute, recovering a Martin Ruiz fumble at the YSU 41 on the game’s second play. Owens then broke through the right side of the Penguin defense for a 41-yard run.
“We had a bust,” Pelini said. “That hurt us. But that happens.
“Defensively, for 90 percent of the game, we played pretty well.”
YSU finally tied the game on Ruiz’s 1-yard TD run with 10:40 left in the third quarter, but Robert Morris went up 14-7 early in the fourth on Owens’ 10-yard run.
The Penguins answered with their best drive of the game, going 75 yards in 12 plays to tie the game at 14. But it wasn’t easy. On fourth-and-goal at the 1, Pelini passed up a field goal try — Zak Kennedy had already missed two — and offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery called for a play-action pass to Kuhn, who was wide open for the touchdown.
YSU forced a punt three minutes later, but Andre Stubbs’ dazzling return was wiped out by an illegal block, pushing the Penguins back to their own 25 instead of the RMU 20. They never got past midfield and, after a punt, the Colonials ran out the clock to force overtime.
YSU next plays Saint Francis — like RMU, a 40-scholarship team at a level that allows 63 — and while Saturday’s performance was good enough to get a win, it won’t be good enough when Missouri Valley play begins in October.
“We didn’t perform as good as we did last week,” Harvin said. “Our mindset of Robert Morris [was] a team not like Pitt, so that kind of minimized our focus.
“When we watch this film, we’re gonna be like, ‘C’mon, there’s plays we should have made.’ ”