Archive for the ‘YSU Football’ Category

Youngstown State sophomore quarterback Kurt Hess (Dayton, Ohio) was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week while junior placekicker David Brown (Ojai, Calif.) was tabbed the Special Teams Player of the Week, the league announced on Sunday.

Hess completed 20-of-24 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another in the Penguins upset win over No. 1 ranked North Dakota State. Hess threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jelani Berassa in the second quarter before his one-yard score with 17 seconds left before the end of the first half pulled YSU within 21-17 at the break. In the second half, he threw a 10-yard scoring toss to Jamaine Cook to give YSU a 24-21 lead.

It was the second weekly honor for Hess this year who was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Week following wins over Illinois State.

Brown had a career-high two field goals made, including the game winner as the Penguins upset top-ranked North Dakota State. Brown made a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter and drilled a 30-yard kick in the third quarter which put YSU on top 27-24. That second field goal proved to be the difference in the game. Brown also made all three of his extra-point tries in the Fargodome.

South Dakota State cornerback Winston Wright was named the Defensive Player of the Week while Southern Illinois running back Jewel Hampton was named the Newcomer of the Week.

The Penguins close out the regular season on Saturday when they play host to Missouri State. Kickoff at Stambaugh Stadium is set for 1 p.m.

Youngstown State, playing their biggest game in years, finally came out on the right end of a close one.  Going into a hostile environment to face the #1 North Dakota State Bison, not many gave the Penguins a chance.  Happy to report, however, I predicted a four point win for the Penguins.  The end result was a tremendous 27-24 upset, boosting the Penguins playoff hopes, but more importantly, assuring everyone that Eric Wolford was not just saying that he had a good team that had to learn how to win – he actually does have a good team.  Lessons well taught.  In this game, it could easily be said that three is greater than zero.  The second field goal was actually the difference.

YSU marched into the red zone with the opening drive but had to settle for a David Brown 33-yard field goal.  When the Bison got the ball back, Sam Ojuri capped a three-play, 52 yard drive with a one yard touchdown run.  The Bison held a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and YSU’s defense looked very ineffective in the entire first quarter.

Following a Kurt Hess interception, the Bison went up 14-3 as Ojuri again scored, this time from two yards away.  This scoring drive took only six plays and covered 40 yards in just under three minutes.  YSU took the next drive in for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10 in favor of NDSU.  Hess connected with Jelani Berassa from twelve yards out.

With just under two minutes left in the half, D J McNorton popped in another Bison touchdown on a two-yard run.  YSU did not finish out the half without getting back on the board.  Jordan Thompson broke a nice 38-yard run to get to the Bison two before Hess snuck in from a yard out to make the halftime score 21-17 in favor of the Bison.

Things got interesting in second half.  McNorton broke off a big run but fumbled the ball.  The opportunistic Penguins jumped on the ball for a big momentum swing.  The Penguins drove into the red zone and Hess found Jamaine Cook on a swing pass.  Cook caught the ball at around the nine and practically jumped over a would-be tackler to get in the end zone.

The Bison and the Penguins exchanged field goals.  Ryan Jastram kicked a 27-yarder to tie the game for the Bison.  Not to be outdone, Brown doubled his production for the entire season with a 30-yard field goal to give the Penguins a 27-24 lead that would last the entire game.

From that point, the YSU defense took over.  NDSU QB Brock Jensen faced huge pressure from YSU’s young defense.  Daniel Stewart brought serious heat more than once in the final three Bison possessions.  Aronde Stanton batted a ball down, Jimmy May played big, breaking up passes in the final drives, and the entire unit played awesome down the stretch.

Before this game, the Bison did not give up more than 24 points.  They never gave up more than 396 yards.  Youngstown State (6-4, 4-3) got by both of those marks.  Cook had 33 big carries for 147 yards.  Hess was 20-24 for 237 yards and more importantly, was able to lead the team by making great decisions at crucial times.  Berassa had 5 catches for 97 yards.

The Bison (9-1, 6-1) got 133 yards of passing from Jensen on 11-22 passing.  Ojuri, who had big success in the first half with long runs finished with 14 carries for 104 yards.

The Penguins wrap up the regular season at home next week against Missouri State.  If they will have any shot at a playoff spot, they will need to win convincingly.

** Photos courtesy of YSU Athletics / Trevor Parks

If you wanted a statement win, what better time than now to make a statement? Youngstown State hits the road one last time in 2011 to face off against the undefeated and #1-ranked North Dakota State Bison.  The Penguins have matured each week, played better each week, and have already made a statement – win or lose.  That statement is pretty obvious.  It would read something like, ‘We are young, we are gaining experience, and you don’t want to play us right now.’

North Dakota State has every reason to be nervous about this game on Saturday.  The last three times these two teams have faced off, the game hung in the balance until the final minute, YSU won two of those contests.  All five conference meetings have been decided by a total of 25 points.  Youngstown State won in their only appearance at the Fargodome two years ago, rallying from an eleven point deficit to win, 39-35.   Disagreement on the Bison nerves?

“They [North Dakota State] are really good at all phases of the game”, said Penguins Coach Eric Wolford.  ”Reviewing the films, you can tell that they do a great job developing their players physically.  They have more weight, more size, and they do not turn the ball over.  Coach Bohl and his staff really do a great job recruiting big guys.  They work hard and lift weights and their secondary hits.  I expect them to try to keep possession, they had the ball 38 minutes in their win last week, and that will keep an offense off of the field.”

Youngstown State has not lost focus of their biggest goal, making the playoffs.  By knocking off the #1 team in the FCS polls, the Penguins will surely get a huge boost in class and at least be ranked next week.  They may need a few dominos to fall in the right direction to make the playoffs, but do not rule them out yet.  For Wolford and his youthful Penguins, winning is the goal.  Last year competing against an undefeated team may have been satisfactory, but Wolford has stated all year that the standard is to win championships and be in the playoffs.

To dissect the four losses that YSU has, a two-point loss at Indiana State, a seven point loss to South Dakota State, a four point loss to Northern Iowa last week, and a 28-6 defeat at Michigan State – the Penguins have gained respect.  They have exceeded the expectations of their predicted seventh-place MVFC finish and more importantly, have been in every game that they have lost with a chance to win.  Three conference losses by a total of 13 points is pretty damn good when nobody is giving you a chance.

Kurt Hess and Jamaine Cook have delivered all season.  Two of the four captains have really made the offense of Shane Montgomery lethal.  The skeptics were critical of the receivers all Spring and into the start of the season, but Christian Bryan and the crew have shut them up in that department.  The defense was then the next unit to be dissected and blamed by the critics.  Start seven freshman at any level and lose to a team that is ranked and see how ‘bad’ you looked, really.

YSU Center Mark Pratt was not around until this season, but is looking forward to taking on the Bison with so much on the line.  “They are the number one ranked defense for a reason, they must be doing something right.  They are as good as advertised and the biggest challenge is that they do not make mistakes.  We need to play like this is a playoff game.”

The Bison have committed zero turnovers in six of their games this season.  Efficient is a word best used to describe their offense and their quarterback, Brock Jensen, is a clock management genius.  If the Penguins can neutralize the line of scrimmage and create obvious passing situations, they must respect play-action passes as the Bison are probably the best in the conference at fooling defenses with their run-disguised aerial attack.

“They have 27 sacks and put tremendous pressure on the quarterback”, said Wolford.  They are smart and defensively, they keep everything in front.  Their pressure creates turnovers.  I think they are going to test our defense with the run.”

Wolford talked about the Bison taking it to Big-10 Minnesota this season.  “In the Minnesota – North Dakota State game, you would have thought that North Dakota State was the Big-10 team the way they dominated.  Minnesota has a few wins this season and it says a lot about this conference to dominate a Big-10 opponent the way they did.”

North Dakota State would not let me talk to any players, saying that they were done doing interviews for the week already.  When I asked Sports Information Director Jeff Schwartz for a coach he said that was not something we could do either. I vowed to supply bulletin board material at some point this season.  Here ya go.  YSU 28 – NDSU 24.  Thanks Jeff!

Kickoff is set for 4:07 Saturday and the game will be televised on the WBCB networks.  You can also catch the radio coverage on AM-570 with Bob Hannon, Ed Muransky, and Zach Humphries.

Youngstown State freshman wide receiver Christian Bryan is among a group of four players added to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List on Wednesday. The inaugural award honors the outstanding freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision. It is presented by The Sports Network and sponsored by Fathead.com.

Bryan, wide receiver Neal Sterling of Monmouth, quarterback Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion and kick returner Jordan Wells of Southeastern Louisiana were added to the list on Wednesday. Currently there are 20 candidates for the honor.

The 5-10, 180-pound Bryan (Irwin, Pa.) has set YSU freshman records for receptions in a season, yards in a season, receptions and yards in a game. He has 33 receptions for 560 yards and five touchdowns for the Penguins this season.

A national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries will select the first Jerry Rice Award winner after the regular season. The legendary wide receiver, who played in the FCS (then Division I-AA) at Mississippi Valley State, will be on hand at the national awards banquet on Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas, to present the new award.

Youngstown State sophomore punter Nick Liste was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in the Penguins 21-17 loss at UNI.

Liste found the first trip of the UNI-Dome to his liking averaging 45.7 yards per punt. He had six punts for 274 yards, including a season-long 54-yard boot. Liste had punts of 38, 39, 46 (twice) and 54. His 38-yard punt was fair caught at the 12 while one of his 46-yard was fair caught at the 15. He also had four kickoffs in the game.

On the year, Liste is averaging 39.5 yards per punt on 43 kicks. He has placed 14 inside the opposition’s 20-yard line and has five punts of more than 50 yards.

South Dakota State quarterback Austin Sumner was named the Offensive Player of the Week, North Dakota State strong safety Colton Heagle was named the Defensive Player of the Week and UNI quarterback Jared Lanpher was tabbed the Newcomer of the Week.

Liste and the rest of the Penguins will remain indoors next Saturday when they visit top-ranked North Dakota State. Kickoff at the Fargodome is set for 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Performance in a hostile environment against an angry team usually does not bode well for a team when they are mediocre, at best.  The biggest thing that Youngstown State (5-4, 3-3) proved in their 21-17 loss is that they are anything but mediocre.  Northern Iowa continued their dominance of the Penguins winning their eleventh straight meeting between the two teams on Saturday.  This one could have gone either way though, and the difference in this game was probably experience.

Imagine you have a garden.  In that garden are many different vegetables that bloom to full maturity over a period of time.  The bulbs are finally starting to open and the harvest is just getting ready to begin for Eric Wolford.  No starting player on offense was a senior, that means that EVERYBODY comes back next year.  Defensively, recruiting should fill a few holes, but there are many bright spots that have started to show signs of excellence, dramatic differences.

Northern Iowa (7-2, 6-1) was put in an early hole as Youngstown State marched into the red zone on their opening drive.  For the first time this season, they attempted, and made, a field goal, and David Brown finally got his name in the scoring column.  Northern Iowa answered on their first drive when Jared Lanpher, filling in for injured Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of The Year,  Tirrell Rennie, found Jarred Herring on a 32-yard strike.

The Penguins (5-4, 3-3) reclaimed the lead with 7:08 left in the first half when Jamaine Cook plunged into the end zone on a 1-yard dive.  Cook ran hard and sometimes made something out of nothing in the loss.  The 10-7 Penguins lead was short-lived,  however.  The Panthers used only two plays to go 61 yards and Lanpher found Terrell Sinkfield from 31 yards away.  The score came with just six seconds left in the first half and surely was a bad touchdown to give in that short of a time span for the Penguins.  UNI held a 14-10 halftime lead.

In the second half, the defense stepped up to the plate and really did a good job limiting the Panthers to a whole third quarter of three-and-outs.  YSU did not fare much better in the scoreless third, but was getting an edge in field position.

In the fourth quarter, Hess found Will Shaw, a converted linebacker turned tight end, on a corner route for his first career score.  Shaw caught the ball at about the UNI nine-yard line, and tiptoed the line to stay inbounds and get in for the points.  The touchdown and PAT gave the Penguins a 17-14 lead.  The stage would then be set for Northern Iowa’s game-winning David Johnson 1-yard run to give the Panthers the 21-17 lead, which they would hold on to for their seventh win.  Johnson’s heroics were the result of a fourth-and-goal gamble by NIU Coach Mark Farley, and the big running back looked stuffed at first, but his second effort got him over the plane.

Youngstown State got 100% effort against a great team.  Kurt Hess was 17-34 for 175 yards with a touchdown and a pick.  Cook finished the game with 90 yards on 30 carries against one of the best defenses in the country.

Lanpher, proving effective for the injured Rennie, finished 16-28 for 238 yards and a pair of throwing scores to mark a successful first career start.  Johnson finished the game with 47 yards rushing, a higher than usual total for the pass-happy Panthers.

The Penguins will be back in another hostile environment next week, the Fargo Dome, to face the #1 ranked FCS team in the country, North Dakota State.

** All Photos courtesy of YSU Athletics / Ron Stevens.

Youngstown State will face their toughest test of the Eric Wolford Era this Saturday when they travel to face a very talented Northern Iowa team.  The Panthers had a showdown with North Dakota State last week in a matchup of conference unbeatens, but came out on the short end of the stick, 27-19, and may have lost their best weapon on offense in the process.  Wolford knows that his team has to put their best effort on the field for four quarters to win a game against a team like Mark Farley‘s Panthers.

Tirrell Rennie (#10, above), as of this writing on Thursday night, is still listed as questionable.  I doubt Rennie is playing because when he got hurt at the start of the fourth quarter in last week’s game, he was unable to put any weight on his injured leg.  In a game that important, Rennie would limp around and play through pain unless he was too injured to do so.  My gut instinct is that Farley is just trying to keep everybody off-balance and guessing on the status of his quarterback, last year’s Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of The Year.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, this is a very good team, showing tremendous balance on both sides of the ball.  Senior LJ Fort is second in the nation in tackles and made 15 of them last week.  Fort is a good linebacker because of the stunts that Northern Iowa runs.  Fort would also be the first to credit players like Ben Boothby, a three-technique down lineman, for keeping blockers off of him and allowing the playmaker to get to the ball.  The Panthers defense ranks fourth nationally and gives up an average of less than ten points per game against conference opponents.

Youngstown State is currently ranked second in the nation in offense, averaging about 40 points per game.  While the skeptics would argue that blowout wins against Valpairaiso and Saint Francis are the only reason that average is so high, keep in mind that YSU only put up six against Michigan State, and that works against a 40-point average.

Kurt Hess is loaded with weapons and has done a fantastic job of moving the ball around. Jamaine Cook is currently third in rushing yards nationally and he has skipped about five quarters due to decided outcomes.  The offensive line knows that the Panthers defense is a handful, but can rise to the challenge.

“It starts with our line”, said Hess, who has been praising the big men all year.  ”They have to communicate and pick up all of the twists and stunts that make their defense so dangerous.  I think they are smart enough to handle the assignments.”

Hess also commented on what this game means to his team.  ”This is the biggest game for me since I have been here.  In order to make the run to the playoffs, I said three weeks ago that we would need six, and we got three of them so far.  We must play 60 minutes against Northern Iowa, and I enjoy playing in that kind of loud environment.  If we do what we are capable of and play that full 60 minutes, we are believing that we can do something really special.”

The YSU offense facing off against the Northern Iowa defense is a matchup made in heaven.  Something has to give, and it will come down to who wants it more.  The X-Factor in this contest will be the youthful Penguins defense.  Leaders have emerged in the last three weeks and everybody seems to be playing better than the first four weeks of the season.  Aronde Stanton has been a beast lately and Teven Williams seems to be emerging as a big-time linebacker.

The past is something that cannot get into the young minds of the YSU players.  UNI has defeated the Penguins ten times in a row, the longest active streak in the league.  The Panthers lead the all-time series 19-6, including last season’s 34-30 win over the upset-minded Penguins.  The last time YSU won at Cedar Falls was in 1999.

I don’t think the Penguins players and coaches care too much about past statistics and records.  Their focus is squarely on the 2011 Northern Iowa team that they face Saturday, period.  If Rennie is unable to play, it does not guarantee anything for YSU, but it definitely takes a dual-threat all-star out of the mix and enhances the upstart Penguins odds of winning this war.

Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. (EST) and the game will be televised on the CBWB Network.

In recent weeks, Eric Wolford has defended his young team through the bad times, while also assuring everyone that the season was not over and that this team was going to get better, contend, and live up to the standard of winning championships. Youngstown State took another big step or two in the right direction by blasting Western Illinois, 56-14.  The Homecoming win puts the Penguins in a position to climb back into the polls with some momentum as they prepare for Northern Iowa.

“Good day for all of the Penguins”, said Coach Eric Wolford.  ” We are getting people to focus on a consistent basis.  We are a stong running team, so there is some opportunity for play-action passes.  We are only a year and a half into this thing.”

“This football team is a work in progress, and when we focus, we can do it.  It was exciting to see four quarters of football and play all three phases of the game this year.  If we are going to make a run, we have to do it now.”

A pattern had developed a few weeks into the season where the offense was scoring a lot of points, but the defense had given up more than the offense could produce a couple of times.  This young defense is really turning the corner and the offense has somehow gotten even better than they were. The Penguins dominated the Leathernecks on both sides of the ball, playing their most consistent football of the season.  The score does not reflect the parity of a tough Missouri Valley Football Conference where teams can jump up and beat the other on any given week.

Youngstown State struck early and often in the first half.  On the first play from scrimmage, Kurt Hess threw a perfect deep ball to Christian Bryan on a skinny post route.  Bryan was a good ten yards behind the defense and the perfect pass from Hess, which traveled about 40 yards before landing in Bryan’s arms, yielded the opening score in a real hurry.  Hess had two more touchdowns in the opening half, a 69-yarder to Jelani Berassa (above) to end the first quarter, and a 17-yard strike to Kevin Watts.  Hess also ran for a score and added another TD pass in the second half to round out his shortened day.

Hess reflected on the win.  ”It starts in the trenches, and our offensive line performed very well today.  The defense created some turnovers and offensively, we appreciate that, and we were not going to let ourselves fail to take advantage of those situations.”

Jamaine Cook always punches his card and goes to work for Shane Montgomery‘s high powered offense.  Cook broke the 1,000-yard barrier in the first half.  He also scored the two first half touchdowns to round out the scoring as the Penguins took a 42-0 lead into the locker room.  Just in the first half, Cook had 111 yards on 16 rushes, he also caught a couple of passes for 19 yards.  Hess and Cook, two captains, have produced week in and week out for Youngstown State.

Defensively, the Penguins were chaotic and disruptive and never allowed the Leathernecks to get into a rhythm, keeping them off of the scoreboard until there was 5:21 left in the third quarter.  Aronde Stanton (above), played a solid game at noseman for the second week in a row.  Stanton had an interception to set up a Penguin score in the second quarter.  The entire defense just looked good.  The secondary created chances for the line to pressure WIU quarterback, Josh Hudson, all day.  In return, the line did a pretty solid job against the run and did all of the little things right.

“When we get turnovers like that, it creates chances for our offense”, remarked Daniel Stewart after the game.  ”We are starting to finish games and are consistently getting better.  We have a big challenge ahead of us next week.”

YSU, which has not lost at home to Western Illinois since 2003, scored more than 28 points for the seventh consecutive game.  The win also marked a halt to losing Homecoming games.  Prior to this victory, the Penguins had lost five straight Homecoming contests, but this win boosts their all-time record to 48-21-1 on such games.

Hess, who only went one drive into the second half, finished the game 7-10 passing for 209 yards and three touchdowns.  He also ran one in.  Cook (above) finished with 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 17 rushes.  Bryan and Berassa only caught a ball each, both touchdowns, 70, and 69 yards respectively. Marc Kanetsky found Ely Ducatel for an 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter, a rare senior-to-senior hookup. Kintrell Disher also scored his first career touchdown as a Penguin. Daniel Stewart recorded five unassisted tackles, including one for a loss.

“All of the guys on defense have made significant improvement”, said Wolford.  ”A lot of times when you are a young person, you don’t understand the sense of urgency or focusing on ‘now’.  We have confidence that we can play with anyone on our schedule. Northern Iowa is a good football team, very well coached.”

The Penguins (5-3, 3-2) head west next week to take on Northern Iowa, the #2 FCS-ranked school going into this week.  The Penguins have not beaten Northern Iowa in their last ten meetings and look to bolster their playoff hopes with a big road win. Don’t be surprised to see YSU ranked this week in the new FCS poll.

There is a sign in the dark cement tunnel that empties onto the field from the Youngstown State locker room.  The sign is hanging on a cement column right in the middle of the ramp and doesn’t have many different connotations.  Last season was a prime example of why a young and talented team needs a subtle reminder sometimes. Western Illinois dealt Youngstown State a painful 40-38 defeat , winning the game in the last minute after the Penguins failed to convert a first down with the game seemingly in control. Times have changed.

For starters, the Leathernecks lost their two best players, QB Matt Barr, and LB Kyle Glazier.  Optimistically, the Leathernecks are in a rebuilding year at the money positions.  However, the Missouri Valley Football Conference has proven one thing over the past several years – that every conference game is an unpredictable war, and that nobody can take assume that they can win a game until it is officially over.

“There is so much parity in this league”, said YSU coach Eric Wolford.  “In most leagues, there is an upper echelon of very good teams, and there is another group of teams that fall below that standard.  There is no division in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, any team can win any week.  Every week in college football, there are teams that are expected to win and are double digit favorites.  They go out and don’t play well.”

Kurt Hess (above) echoed the sentiment of his team on last year’s loss.  The sophomore QB said, “It was a very tough loss and it was very emotional, just like all of the other losses were.  We feel like we owe them something.”

The Penguins have gone all season without making a field goal attempt.  Wolford shared his feelings on the lack of three-point kicks.

“I don’t really care if we kick a field goal.  We work very hard on our red zone stuff.  I think everyone knows that seven is greater than three from kindergarten.  I would rather have seven.”

Hess, who is mature beyond his years, has been pretty effective this season, as has the entire offense, to the tune of 37.7 points per game. Jamaine Cook, barring injury or disaster, should crack the 1,000 yard mark in rushing against the Leathernecks, needing only 51 yards to do so.  Cook scored four touchdowns in the first half of last weeks game against Saint Francis.

Western Illinois (2-5, 1-3) lost last week, 31-17, at home to Missouri Valley State.  It was the first win in the conference for the Bears and if there was a silver lining to the outcome for the Leathernecks, it had to be the play of senior linebacker, Kevin Palermo, who recorded 14 tackles in the loss.  Palermo has 63 tackles on the season, 21 more than anyone else on the team.

The Leathernecks have gotten decent numbers out of first-year quarterback Josh Hudson, who has thrown for 1,313 yards so far this season.  His favorite target is 6’3″ senior, Terriun Crump, who has 41 catches in 2011, more than double of the next closest Leatherneck receiver.  I spoke with Crump about using his experience against YSU’s freshman-dominant defense.

“Obviously, we want to find a way to take advantage.  Youngstown State must have confidence in all of those freshmen to put them on the field.  We start some freshmen too and they have performed for us.  I don’t think it matters if they are freshman or seniors.  Our key to victory is to win all three phases of the game – offense, defense, and special teams.  We’re a balanced team and can play with anyone when we get all three phases going.”

YSU has not lost to Western Illinois at home since 2003, and the Leathernecks are currently riding a five-game road losing streak.  The special Homecoming game will start at 1 p.m., and YSU will announce it’s 2011 Hall of Fame inductees at halftime. With a win, the Penguins continue to show marked improvement from last season, stay in the playoff hunt, and head off to Northern Iowa, and then North Dakota State.  First though, the goal is to take care of the business at hand, and that is focusing on defeating Western Illinois.

Youngstown State junior center Mark Pratt was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Offensive Lineman of the Week, the league announced on Monday.

Pratt earned an overall grade of 90 percent for his efforts in the 49-23 win over Saint Francis (Pa.). He was named the team’s co-offensive player of the game allowing with tailback Jamaine Cook who rushed for four touchdowns.

Pratt played 46 snaps at center and had an assignment grade of 97% and a team-high technique grade of 84 percent. YSU rushed for 450 yards, had two tailbacks rush for more than 100 yards and amassed 646 yards of total offense in the win.

It marks the second time this season that YSU has had an Offensive Lineman of the Week selection. OG Chris Elkins received the honor following the Penguins’ win over Valparaiso.

YSU plays at home for the second consecutive week playing host to Western Illinois on Saturday. Kickoff for the contest is set for 1 p.m. It is the annual Homecoming/Hall-of-Fame contest. Tickets are available by calling (330) 941-1978.