Posts Tagged ‘Youngstown State University’

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team had its highest offensive output since the 2007-08 season and held off a late charge in a 91-81 at IPFW on Sunday afternoon at the Gates Sports Complex.

Brandi Brown scored 18 of her 22 points in the second half, and Kenya Middlebrooks had 17 of her 21 in the first half for YSU, which improved to 1-1 for the season. Heidi Schlegel added 17 points, which shot 51.8 percent from the field.  YSU last scored in the nineties when it had 92 points at Valparaiso on Jan. 31, 2008.

The Penguins led by as many as 24 points with 10-and-a-half minutes remaining, but IPFW made a late run to make the final score close. Although YSU led by double digits the entire second half, a jumper by IPFW’s Anne Boese cut the score to 73-61 with 5:46 to play. Boese then hit a trey with 2:55 left to make the score 82-72.  The Mastodons didn’t hit another field goal until the 1:09 mark, and YSU had upped its lead back to 13 by then.

Boese, who scored 20 points in the opener at Cincinnati on Friday, didn’t score her first points today until there was 18:45 left. She finished with 12 points, and Erin Murphy led the Mastodons with 21. IPFW was 23-for-26 from the free-throw line.

YSU led by 17 early in the second half, but two Hillary Moore free throws made the score 48-37 with 17:53remaining. The Penguins then went on a 19-6 run, capped by a Brown lay-up with 12:04 to play, to go up by 24.

Youngstown State built a 44-29 halftime lead behind 17-first half points from Middlebrooks. The junior guard was 6-for-9 from the field, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. She had nine points in less than a four-minute span as YSU went on a 10-0 run to gain separation.

IPFW’s last lead came when Rachel Mauk hit a layup to put the Mastodons up 7-4. Monica Touvelle hit a three to tie the score to spark a 7-0 run, and YSU never trailed again. A Middlebrooks try at the 9:11 mark capped a 10-0 run that gave YSU a 23-12 lead.

Moore’s free throw with 4:33 left made the score 32-23, but Liz Hornberger hit a triple on YSU’s next possession to push the score to 35-23. The margin was never single digits again.

Eleven of IPFW’s 29 points in the first half came from the free-throw line.

Five different Penguins shot better than 50 percent, and nine different Guins had at least one assist. Middlebrooks added five steals.

Youngstown State will wrap up its season-opening three-game road swing at Bucknell on Wednesday. Tipoff inLewisburg, Pa. is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be carried live on 570 WKBN.

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

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team played well enough defensively but shot just 19.6 percent in a 69-37 loss at West Virginia in the 2011-12 season opener on Friday at the WVU Coliseum.

The Penguins trailed 26-15 at halftime because of a strong defensive effort that held the Mountaineers to 30-percent shooting. WVU shot 59.3 percent in the second half in outscoring the Guins 43-22 in the final 20 minutes.

WVU, which held a big size advantage, posted 12 blocks. Sophomore guard Taylor Palmer had 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting, including 8-for-16 from beyond the arc. The rest of the Mountaineers combined to go 0-for-10 from 3-point range.

Brandi Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds for Youngstown State but was just 3-for-15 from the field. Monica Touvelle, Heidi Schlegel and Melissa Thompson had five points apiece.

YSU dug itself a 13-0 hole until Touvelle’s 3-pointer with 12:50 remaining broke the scoreless stretch. WVU led by double digits until Macey Nortey scored on YSU’s first possession of the second half. That made the score 26-17, but WVU scored the next 10 points and held the Penguins scoreless until the 15:45 mark.

Youngstown State will stay in Morgantown tonight before heading to Fort Wayne, Ind., to play IPFW on Sunday.

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.

Donald Jones has missed a couple of Buffalo Bills games with a leg injury.  He has been working hard trying to get back, but doubts he will be ready to go when his team takes on the New York Jets in a huge game for both teams.  Jones can be activated for the game, but is unsure just how much he will get to play as he pushes himself to a full recovery.

“The recovery process is going well”, said Jones. “I feel like I am pretty well ahead of schedule and was supposed to miss six-to-eight weeks.  It hasn’t even been four weeks yet and I feel like I am getting pretty close to returning to the field.”

The Bills can’t blink as their productive offense takes on the NFL’s #1-ranked defense in the Jets.

“They have a really good secondary with two all-pro cornerbacks.  Darrelle Rivas is the best corner in the league, and the defense produces turnovers.  We have to get off the ball because they like to jam the receivers at the line, and we expect to see a lot of blitzing.  They have some crazy schemes on defense and all of the pressure they create causes quarterbacks to throw interceptions.”

The game has a lot of meaning to Jones because he worked out with some of the current Jets roster in the offseason.  Brad Smith, of Youngstown Chaney High School fame, was a Jet and also wants to win in the worst way this weekend.  Personal reasons aside, it is a game that will drastically alter the standings, either way.

“They are a divisional opponent”, noted Jones.  “If we get the win we will be two games ahead of them and if we lose they will have tied us for first place.”

As Jones inches closer to his return, it should be noted that the Bills defense has stepped it up as the offense has slowed in the last couple of games.  Once Jones returns, it will open things up for Chan Gailey‘s offense because #19 is developing a good reputation in football circles as a field stretcher.  This team is good, and they are for real.

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.

Youngstown State freshman Jade Flory (above) was named to the 2011 Horizon League All-Newcomer Team, the league announced on Monday.

Flory, who is the second straight Youngstown State player to earn all-newcomer team laurels, led the Penguins with seven goals and 17 points scored and tied for the team lead with three assists.  She also ranked second in the league in goals per game (0.41); tied for second with seven goals; fourth in points (17), points per game (1.00), shots (48) and shots per game (2.82).

Flory also led all newcomers with seven goals, scored more goals than 20 of the 22 players on the all-league teams and scored more total points than 19 of the 22 members of the all-league teams.  She is the Brandi Brown of YSU Soccer.