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Coaches, players recall YSU’s 1997 title run
By JOHN HARRIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Ken Conatser vividly recalls tearing up the locker room to emphasize a point to the Youngstown State football team.
The Penguins trailed top-ranked Villanova at halftime in their 1997 playoff game. Villanova was led by talented running back Brian Westbrook, a future NFL standout.
“Our kids were trying to shut down Westbrook but we weren’t stopping the pass. I told our players to forget the [run],” said Conatser, who coached outside linebackers in 1997 — YSU’s last team to win a national championship.
“I put my fist through the blackboard and Coach [Jim] Tressel is on the other side. I said, ‘Coach, I didn’t mean to interrupt.’ He said, ‘We all got the message. Nobody could hear [anything] else because you were screaming.’ ”
Trailing 21-0, the Penguins made it 28-14 at halftime and scored 23 consecutive points in the second half en route to upsetting Villanova in the quarterfinals. YSU beat Eastern Washington in the semifinals and defeated McNeese State 10-9 in the championship game to secure the Penguins’ fourth national title in the 1990s under Tressel, who is now YSU’s president.
The Penguins seek their fifth national championship Saturday against James Madison in Frisco, Texas.
“We were preparing for the championship game and I remember Coach Tressel telling us we had to figure out a way to score one touchdown because they weren’t scoring a touchdown against our defense,” Conatser said Thursday. “His attitude was they werern’t good enough on offense to beat us.”
YSU quarterback Demond Tidwell tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Renauld Ray for the game-winner with just over eight minutes remaining.
“We had never run that play all year long,” Tidwell said. “You just have to improvise sometimes, and that’s what we did.”
The Penguins, led by defensive tackle Harry Deligianis, made the lead hold up. Deligianis, nicknamed The Bear,” switched to defensive end late in the game and recorded back-to-back sacks to preserve the win.
“It was a nail-biter. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was down to the wire,” said Mike Stanec, who was a starting linebacker.
“What these guys are doing this year is great,” said Stanec, who also starred at Austintown Fitch. “They’re bringing back all the memories. In the 90s, it was expected because (YSU) made so many trips to the championship game. This team, the way they did it so fast, it kind of came out of nowhere. Everybody expected them to get back, but they didn’t expect it so quick.”
Stanec said expectations were exceedingly high under Tressel.
“His goal was to get better every week, win the conference, make it to the playoffs and win the championship,” said Stanec. “That was his expectation every year. That’s what he talked about all the time.”
The similarities between this year’s team and the ’97 team are striking, according to Sam Eddy, who coached YSU’s running backs in ’97.
“I think the teams are similar in the sense that we ran the football and that made our passing game that much better,” Eddy said.
During one playoff game that year, running back Adrian Brown carried the ball on 10 consecutive plays. What’s more, Brown ran the same play each time.
“In the first half, we got 3 yards, maybe 4 yards per carry. In the second half, we got 5, 6 and 7 yards per carry,” Eddy said. “We didn’t change the play. We just changed the formation. We physically beat you up
“That’s what this team does,” he added. “They’re going to pound you with the football and set up play-action passes.”
Finally, Stanec said, the connecting theme running through both teams doesn’t necessarily appear in the box score but carries great significance.
“This team has the same type of family atmosphere that we had,” said Stanec. “The way they all talk about each other. They’re all in this together, good or bad, They’re picking each other up all the time. That’s what it takes.”