YSU got off to a sluggish start but recovered to take a halftime lead and defeat the Austin Peay Governors, 38-21.  With the victory, Coach Jon Heacock ran his home opener winning record to 9-0, and the Penguins won their 14th consecutive home debut.

It didn’t take Austin Peay very long to get on the scoreboard.  With 13:23 left in the first quarter and YSU in a punting situation, Austin Peay’s Ricky Thomas blocked the attempt and Adrian Mines fell on the ball in the end zone to put the Governors up 7-0.

With 8:10 left in the opening period, Stephen Blose connected on a 31-yard FG to cap a 10 play, 55 yard drive and making the score 7-3 in favor of Austin Peay.

An Austin Peay drive was single-handedly destroyed by Mychal Savage.  Savage sacked Governors QB Trent Caffee, caused a fumble on the sack, and promptly recovered the fumble giving YSU the ball on Austin Peay’s 49-yard line.  The first quarter would come to an end with YSU driving at Austin Peay’s 3-yard line and trailing 7-3.

On a third-and-goal at Austin Peay’s 1-yard line, Kevin Smith barely received the handoff before being hit by Daniel Becker for a four-yard loss.  Stephen Blose attempted a 15-yard FG but hit the right upright and YSU failed to convert the takeaway into points.

Trent Caffee increased the Austin Peay lead to 14-3 with 9:13 to go in the second quarter with a fourth-and-goal run on the Youngstown State one-yard line.

YSU finally found the end zone with exactly five minutes left in the half when Brandon Summers found TE Andy Colegrove for a 4-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10. 

Another Austin Peay miscue gave YSU another chance to score as Caffee was picked off by Bryan Gaiters with 4:18 left in the half.  Kevin Smith gave YSU their first lead in 2009 as he ran seven yards on a second-and-goal with 3:39 left in the half.  The Penguins only needed two plays to go ten yards for the score making it 17-14 Penguins, which is where the scoring ended in the first half.

YSU returned an earlier favor by blocking a Governor’s punt on their first possession of the second half and taking over on the Austin Peay 30-yard line.  Summers would find Donald Jones for a 20-yard scoring hookup to increase the Penguins lead to 24-14.  The Penguins drove 30 yards in four plays on the scoring drive.  Jones showed his great concentration on the scoring reception by pulling in the pass, getting his helmet knocked off, and still holding on for six.

On their next set of plays, YSU showed their explosive scoring side as Summers again found Jones, this time for an 18-yard score making it 31-14 in favor of the host Penguins.  The Penguins went 51 yards in just six plays in under two minutes for the score. 

The third quarter ended with YSU up 31-14 but Austin Peay driving.  On the first play of the fourth quarter Caffee found Darryl Miller with a fade into the right corner of the YSU end zone to cut the lead to 31-21.  Austin Peay drove 75 yards in 14 plays to paydirt.

The YSU defense looked sharp stopping a couple of Austin Peay fourth quarter drives, and the alignment woes from the Pitt game looked to be fixed.  The Penguins defense stopped Austin Peay on a fourth-and-four yards to go play to take over on downs on the Governors 28. 

Summers found Dominique Barnes on a skinny post route for a 17-yard strike after a holding penalty backed the Penguins up to the Governors 17.  Blose nailed his fifth extra point of the game to stretch the Penguins lead to 38-21.  With the touchdown, Summers tied a YSU record for touchdowns in a game being the eighth quarterback in Penguins history to throw four in a contest.  He accomplished the fete last season against Liberty, so the four touchdowns tied a personal best.

Austin Peay would mount another drive as Caffee found Scott Thomas for a 25-yard completion.  Youngstown State helped out with a late hit, a roughing the passer call, and an illegal hands to the face series of penalties.  The Governors eventually turned the ball over on downs as Luke Matelan sacked Caffee and YSU took over on downs at their own 29.

YSU’s second team offense was able to get a couple of first downs and successfully run the clock out to preserve the 38-21 victory for the Penguins to even their 2009 record at 1-1.

After the game, Coach Heacock was very quick to praise his group of twelve seniors and their significance as leaders.  “The Seniors are playing good football.  Mychal Savage, Donnie Jones, Jabari Scott, all of the seniors are playing good football.  They have worked hard.  In the Spring when it was 28 degrees, those Seniors were leaders by example.  They make sure the younger guys are going to class, they work hard, and they truly are a very special group.”

Brandon Summers downplayed his own personal numbers by praising the defense,  “I give it to our defense.  They created the momentum switch.  We had to capitalize on that because we don’t want them to get an interception and then go three-and-out.  I would like to thank our defense.”

Summers finished the game 17-24 for 232 yards and four touchdowns.  Donald Jones led the Penguins receiving statistics with 6 catches for 82 yards and a pair of scores.  Kevin Smith had 20 rushes for 116 yards and a score, he also caught a pass for 15 yards.  The Penguins were penalized 10 times for 110 yards.  Coach Heacock said the penalties may have been a result of lazy play with a big lead, and that the 110 yards were ‘too many, way too many’.

Austin Peay QB Trent Caffee finished 13-31 for 158 yards , a TD, and an INT.  Ryan White had 52 yards in 15 carries to lead the Governors ground game.  Adrian Mines had 49 yards on two catches, one a 43-yarder to lead the receivers. 

YSU  gets ready to travel to Northeastern next Saturday, a place where the Penguins have had very little success.