Posts Tagged ‘Youngstown State University’

For the first time in his career, Youngstown State sophomore quarterback Kurt Hess has been named the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week. Hess threw for a career-high 293 yards and tied a school record with four touchdown passes in the win over Illinois State.

Against the Redbirds he threw two first-quarter touchdown passes, ran for one and passed for another in the second and connected on his school-record-tying fourth in the third period.

He threw for a career-high 293 yards completing 21-of-29 passes. He had touchdown throws of 10, 20, 25 and 44 yards in the game and 35-yard completion on a third-and-8 with 2:13 left in the game helped seal the win as ISU was not able to get the ball back the remainder of the game. He is the eighth quarterback in program history to throw four touchdown passes in a game.

Other Missouri Valley Conference Players of the week were CB Larry Carter of Indiana State (defense); WR Dale Moss of South Dakota State (newcomer) and PK Cory Little of Indiana State (special teams).

YSU returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Indiana State. Kickoff for the contest against the Sycamores is set for 2 p.m.

When Youngstown State opens Missouri Valley Football Conference play against Illinois State this Saturday, both teams will learn how good they have gotten over the past year.  YSU played a game they were given no chance to win nationally, then they played a team that people expected them to blow out.  Illinois State is somewhere between Michigan State and Valparaiso.  The Redbirds have recruited 15 FBS transfers and head coach Brock Spack thinks that this could be the season his birds fly to the front of the pack.

Eric Wolford respects Spack’s program, calling it ‘on the rise’, and knows that the task at hand on Saturday will be a great test for his youthful Penguins.  “Their defense is tremendous.  They are only giving up about seven yards per game on the ground, and I don’t care if it is Michigan State, Illinois State, or any state for that matter, that is a good defense.  It starts with Eric Brunner who can dominate a game and we have to be able to move the football against that unit to win this game.”

Brunner put together a great effort against Morehead State in a 52-21 win last weekend.  The preseason all-conference defensive tackle had a pair of sacks and seven tackles.  The Youngstown State offensive line has to get off to a quick start and be able to create space for the backs to sneak through.  The three-headed tailback monster that is Jamaine Cook, Adaris Bellamy, and Jordan Thompson, will need to piece together a great collective effort because every yard gained on the ground this weekend will be hard-earned.

“Offensively, Illinois State is very talented and explosive”, remarked Wolford.  “They have a big, veteran offensive line, they have a tremendous quarterback named Matt Brown who has experience.  They have a solid running game and we can’t afford to take any plays off this week, they are much-improved over last season and it is going to be a very good test for us.”

The Penguins will also have to concentrate on stopping Redbirds TB Ashton Leggett. The senior running back has 207 yards on 36 carries with a pair of touchdowns.  The good news for YSU’s run defense is that no other Redbird RB has more than six carries through the first two games.  Another key to the Illinois State offense is that the tendency when they throw has been to hit wide receivers almost exclusively.  The tight ends seem to block and the running backs don’t get targeted much.

If Youngstown State can pick up the quality conference win this weekend, they will surely be ranked in next week’s FCS Poll.  The Penguins received votes this week, but not enough to crack the Top-25.  A win over a talented program like Illinois State will also break a seven game conference losing streak.  Last season, Youngstown State had the Redbirds on the ropes, but ultimately fell 41-39 in one of many heartbreaking last-minute losses.

The game is scheduled to kickoff at 4 p.m. and early reports from the YSU athletic offices are that there are already close to 22,000 tickets sold for the game.  The 2011 Penguins have the community buzzing about the old days, about the future, about Penguins football, and about winning.

“We have a precedence here at Youngstown State”, says Wolford.  “Winning championships.  In order to win championships, you have to win your conference games, and for us, that starts this week.”

YSU’s freshman sensation and speed demon, Andre Stubbs, knows says he knows what this game will mean.  “We have had a good week and if we stay positive, we should come out with a win.”

Youngstown State sophomore offensive guard Chris Elkins (Beaver Falls, Pa.) was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference‘s Offensive Lineman of the Week for his performance during the Penguins’ win over Valparaiso last Saturday.

Elkins was tabbed the team’s Offensive Player and Offensive Lineman of the Game for his solid effort in the win over the Crusaders.

He graded out at 84 percent for the game, had two knockdown blocks and no missed assignments or loafs according to the Coaching Staff.

YSU set a school record with 77 points, 11 touchdowns – including eight on the ground – and set a record with 657 total offensive yards.  The Penguins rushed for 460 yards against the Crusaders, the second-highest total in school history. Through two games, the offensive line has not surrendered a sack.

This Saturday, Youngstown State starts Missouri Valley Football Conference play against Illinois State at Stambaugh Stadium. Kickoff at the Ice Castle is set for 4 p.m. For ticket information contact the YSU Athletic Ticket Office at (330) 941-1YSU.

The Youngstown State volleyball team earned its first win of the season by defeating Fairleigh Dickinson in straight sets on Saturday morning at UMBC’s Maddie Bingaman Memorial Tournameng.

Sophomore Missy Hundelt (St. Charles, Mo.) posted 10 kills and three aces, and sophomore setter Casey D’Ambrose (Addison, Ill.) had 30 assists and 12 digs. YSU won 25-22, 25-21, 26-24.

Alexis Egler (Clarkston, Mich.) and Shannon Watson (Zoarville, Ohio) added seven kills apiece for YSU, which snapped a 28-match losing streak dating back to Sept. 11, 2010.

Meaghan Wheeler had 13 kills for Fairleigh Dickinson, which had won five straight matches. Last night, the Knights swept Norfolk State, who YSU will play this afternoon at 4.

The Penguins battled through 27 ties and 11 lead changes in the match, and they trailed by as many as four in the opening set. They took their first lead since 6-5 when D’Ambrose and Nichele Johnson combined for a block to make the score 19-18. An Erika West (Painesville, Ohio) ace capped a 13-5 run by YSU that gave it a 23-19 lead. Hundelt’s third kill of the set came on set point.

YSU led 9-2 early in the second set, but FDU scored seven straight points to tie the score on a kill from Wheeler. Another Wheeler kill tied the score at 19-19, but a serving error and back-to-back kills from Jackie Carlisle (Hubbard, Ohio) and Watson gave the Guins a 22-19 lead. A Hundelt kill also finished the second set.

YSU led 10-7 in the third before having to rally from four three-point deficits, including 22-19. Hundelt’s ace tied the score at 23-23, and a Brittany Grove (Mansfield, Ohio) kill gave the Penguins a match point. Hundelt’s serving error accounted for a side out, but YSU scored the next two points on an attack error and bad set.

Bowling Green’s Kaitlyn Tobin scored her first goal of the season with just 32 seconds left in regulation as the Falcons defeated the Youngstown State women’s soccer team, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Guins fall to 3-4-1 overall while the Falcons improve to 2-5.

Freshman Jade Flory‘s last-second shot to tie the match with just two seconds left hit the crossbar and bounced out-of-bounds.

After a scoreless first half, Bowling Green’s Tracy Togba gave the Falcons the lead, 1-0, at the 71:06 mark when she found the back of the net off a header by Alyssa Zuccaro.

Sopohomore Heather Coonfare tied the game at 1-1 at the 77:50 mark with her first career goal after long-crossing pass from senior Geneva Strelka.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ali Viola recorded seven saves for the Guins.

The Guins open Horizon League play against Wright State, Sunday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m.

On Saturday, Youngstown State University broke a lot of things.  The first thing they broke was Valparaiso, racking up a lopsided 77-13 victory.  They also broke school records for the most points scored in a quarter (35), most points in a half (63), and longest punt return (96 yards).  The game was so lopsided that running a continuous clock should have been an option for the second half.  The other thing broken was YSU’s eight-game losing streak.  Amazingly, YSU broke the record for points in a game, with 70, in the third quarter.  It was Lionel vs Fisher Price, Ali vs Cooney, and Mercedes vs Yugo.

Eric Wolford commented on the win.  “We showed a lot of maturity.  Last season after Penn State, there was a letdown.  This season after losing to Michigan State, we showed great maturity with no letdown and played a pretty good football game.  Next week we start conference play and I don’t want to get caught up because we scored 77 points this week.  We will continue to mature as this young team picks up experience each week.”

The Penguins scored on every possession in the first half and held a 63-6 lead at the break.  Marc Kanetsky took over at quarterback in the second quarter.  It was a game that the whole depth chart was used in intervals at some point.

YSU scored 35 points in the first quarter.  Jamaine Cook scored two touchdowns (1, 31) and Jordan Thompson punched in a pair (9, 10).  The other touchdown was an electrifying 96-yard punt return by Josh Lee breaking a 45 year-old school record of 92 yards.

In the second quarter, the Penguins kept scoring.  Adaris Bellamy, the best-kept secret on the team, had a couple of rushing touchdowns from 34 and 13 yards out. Kurt Hess hit David Rogers for a 16-yard TD.  He also found Andre Barboza from 24 yards out.  The Penguins avearged 11.1 yards per play in the first half and the word dominant would be an understatement.

Bellamy and Cook both cracked the 100-yard mark in the first half.  Cook had 126 yards and Bellamy tacked on 101, both in the first half.  It was the first time two YSU backs had 100 yards each since 2008 when Jabari Scott and Cameron Keys did it.  The Penguins amassed 476 yards in the opening half.  They would finish the game with 657 yards, another new school record.

In the second half, Coach Wolford emptied the cupboard and YSU mounted an opening drive that would result in a Torrian Pace 17-yard run.  Pace was the fourth running back to score a touchdown.  The drive was 14 plays covering 84 yards without a single pass attempt by Kanetsky.  70-6 YSU.  The 70 points set  a school record for most points scored in a game.

Parnell Taylor scored YSU’s last touchdown to make it 77-6.  The score, a two-yard plunge, was the first in the YSU career of Taylor.  Patrick Angle got some time engineering a 14 play-86 yard drive to round out the scoring for the Penguins.  Valpo punched one in late to close out the scoring at 77-13.

Adaris Bellamy led the way on the ground for the Penguins with 180 yards on 23 carries (7.8 yards per carry).  Afterwards Bellamy talked about the successful effort of the team.  “We came out ready to play just like we did last week against Michigan State, it doesn’t matter who we are playing.  Our goal is to go undefeated every week, break records every week, and get this program back to the way people are used to seeing, this kind of Penguin football.”

Christian Bryan had five grabs for 78 yards to lead the receivers.  Kurt Hess was 12 of 13 for 204 yards, 2 TD’s and no turnovers.  The only incompletion Hess had was a drop.  For Valpo, Eric Hoffman threw 30 passes, completed 14 and had 112 yards passing.  He was sacked three times.  Kevin Becker hauled in three for 38 yards for the Crusaders.  Dale Cook had seven carries for 39 yards for Valpo.

Davion Rogers had some impressive plays, both on defense, and one exceptional effort on special teams.  Rogers ran over a potential blocker in the Valpo punt return wall and then proceeded to floor another would-be blocker two steps later before burying the return man.  You can’t ask for much more than that from a special teams player.  “We [defensive unit] take great pride knowing that we push the offense in practice and make them better each week”, commented Rogers.  ”  It had been 352 days since we won here.  We have some great players and we are going to take many huge steps this year.”

Mercifully, YSU turned the ball over on downs deep in Valpo territory ending their string of eleven straight touchdowns.

Give Wolford a gold star for showing a lot of class and calling off the dogs the entire second half.  Make no mistake about it, YSU could have put up a C-note today.  Wolford and Shane Montgomery did not call for a single pass and kept running the ball to keep the clock moving.

“I talked with their coach [Carlson] after the game”, said Wolford.  “He was very complimentary of our program and I told him that I was impressed that his guys kept playing hard.  They are in a very similar situation that we were in, trying to turn a program around with 48 new guys.”

YSU opens conference play next week at 4 p.m. when Illinois State rolls into town.

** Bottom Photo, courtesy of Ron Stevens.

Youngstown State (0-1) welcomes Valparaiso (0-1) to The Ice Castle for its home opener Saturday.  Kickoff for the game is set for 4 p.m. and the Penguins have to know that, going in,  this is a total reversal of last weeks visit to East Lansing, Michigan to face the #17 ranked Spartans of Michigan State.  Valparaiso will visit the Penguins as the team that nobody will pick to win and YSU has to prove they are the confident team that easily rolls through the opponent when expected to.

“Monday, after the loss, we were a little bit down at practice and that was a good thing”, remarked YSU head coach Eric Wolford.  “Last year, we played ok for 14 minutes, but had pep in our step the following Monday because the expectations were lower.  We feel like we let one get away and that was a good sign at practice.”

Valparaiso throws the ball.  In a 49-35 loss to Franklin last week, the Crusaders chucked it up 42 times and had 394 yards through the air en route to their best offensive output since 2008.  The bad news for Valpo was that Franklin amassed 669 total yards.  Valparaiso held a 28-14 lead in that game before giving up 35 of the last 42 points scored.

Wolford went on to say, “We are going to shine the car up the rest of the week and take it for a drive on Saturday.”

Last week’s Defensive Player of The Game for YSU, Jeremey Edwards, expressed how important it is to stay focused this week. “There were some things we did wrong last week and we should have won that game.  I made two mistakes that cost us and take responsibility for them.  We are fixing those things and want to come out strong this week.  I am very confident and always try to be number one, this team is striving to be number one.  It was a very intense week at practice and everyone was very focused.”

Valparaiso, members of the Pioneer League, has never faced Youngstown State on a football field before.  They will be playing with nothing to lose besides a 21-game winless streak.  Last season, Valpo actually lost a game 86-7 to Jacksonville.  Second-year coach, Dale Carlson, is in his 23rd season and holds an overall record of 110-115-3, but is 0-12 with the Crusaders job.

Look for the offense to get on track this week.  Expect big days from Kurt Hess, any combination of receivers and Jamaine Cook and Jordan Thompson, a couple of running backs, to grab a ‘c-note’ each.  If YSU wins by less than 30, I feel it would be a disappointment, nothing against Valpo, it’s just the Penguins are oozing with that much talent this season.

“We’re not there yet.  We still have a lot of room for improvement and some people think we are getting closer.  This group is very talented and has a chance to win, I can’t guarantee instant success, but I think the future looks very bright because of the combination we have here of a youth movement and upperclassmen leadership”, said Wolford.

The Youngstown State Women’s Swimming & Diving team will offer a “Learn to Swim Clinic” for children ages 3-10 during three Sunday and Wednesday evenings this fall. A total of six sessions will be hosted by the Penguins’ student-athletes.

The clinic is open to general public as well as children of YSU students, faculty and staff.

The lessons will be held at YSU’s Natatorium Beeghly Center on the following dates: Sept. 25 from 6-6:45 p.m., Sept. 28 from 6-6:45 p.m., Oct. 2 from 6-6:45 p.m., Oct. 5 from 6-6:45 p.m., Oct. 9 from 6-6:45 p.m. and Oct. 12 from 6-6:45 p.m. The cost is $60 per child, with five separate skill levels to benefit all participants. All profits raised benefit the Youngstown State swimming and diving program.

All participants will receive a free YSU spirit item and focused swim instructions from knowledgeable swimmers in a fun-filled environment.  Registration is open until the first lesson on Sept. 25. Participants need to bring appropriate swimming attire, a towel and goggles (if preferred).

For additional information please contact Assistant Coach Kylie Gamelier, (330) 941-3673 or via email at kegamelier@ysu.edu

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team will play 13 games against opponents who won at least 20 games last season and participate in a Thanksgiving tournament in Los Angeles during the 2011-12 season, YSU head coach Bob Boldon announced on Tuesday.

The Penguins will have a challenging start with five of the first eight contests against teams who won 20-plus games a year ago. They’ll also play five of their first six contests away from Beeghly Center.

Boldon’s second season will start at West Virginia on Friday, Nov. 11, and the Penguins will remain on the road to play at IPFW (Nov. 13) and at Bucknell (Nov. 16). YSU’s home opener will be against American on Nov. 21, and the Guins’ league opener will be versus Cleveland State on Dec. 31. YSU has just 12 home contests on the 29-game docket.

“This is a very exciting and challenging schedule for us as we continue to build our program,” Boldon said. “We have a very demanding non-conference slate that will definitely prepare us for the Horizon League, and we’re adding New York City and Los Angeles to our list of attractive travel destinations.”

November 

 Fri	11	at West Virginia			TBA 

Sun	13	at IPFW			2:00 PM 

 Wed	16	at Bucknell			7:00 PM 

 Mon	21	AMERICAN			7:05 PM 

 Fri	25	at Loyola Marymount			4:00 PM 

 Sat	26	vs. TBA			TBA

Wed	30	WESTERN MICHIGAN			7:05 PM 

December 

 Tue	6	BOWLING GREEN			5:15 PM 

 Fri	9	at Ohio			7:00 PM

Sun	18	at Akron			2:00 PM 

 Tue	27	at Stony Brook			7:00 PM 

 Sat	31	CLEVELAND STATE *			2:05 PM 

January 

 Thu	5	at Butler *			7:00 PM 

 Sat	7	at Valparaiso *			2:35 PM 

 Thu	12	LOYOLA *			7:05 PM 

 Sat	14	UIC *			2:05 PM 

Thu	19	at Green Bay *			8:00 PM 

 Sat	21	at Milwaukee *			3:00 PM 

 Thu	26	DETROIT *			7:05 PM 

 Sat	28	WRIGHT STATE *			4:35 PM 

February 

 Thu	2	VALPARAISO *			7:05 PM 

 Sat	4	BUTLER *			2:05 PM 

 Thu	9	at UIC *			8:00 PM 

 Sat	11	at Loyola *			TBA 

 Thu	16	MILWAUKEE *			7:05 PM 

 Sat	18	GREEN BAY *			2:05 PM 

 Thu	23	at Wright State *			7:00 PM 

 Sat	25	at Detroit *			2:00 PM 

March 

 Sat	3	at Cleveland State *			TBA 

  (home games in red)

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team will have two games nationally televised on the ESPN family of networks and will also featured as the Horizon League Networks Game of the Week in late February, the Horizon League announced as part of its 35-game 2011-12 television package.

The Penguins game against Milwaukee, schedule for Jan. 20 at the Beeghly Center, is slated for a national broadcast ESPNU or ESPN3.com.

The Guins home contest against two-time national runners-up Butler on Feb. 9 has been selected for to be on ESPN3.com

“Having two of our games broadcast on ESPNU or ESPN3.com is outstanding national exposure for our basketball team,” Head Coach Jerry Slocum said. “The Horizon League continues to produce a tremendous brand of men’s basketball and I’m glad we have the opportunity to showcase our program.”

The Penguins regular-season and home finale against Detroit on Feb. 25 has been picked as the Horizon League Network’s Game of the Week.

In a scheduling note, the Guins’ game at Valparaiso has been moved to Jan. 13 and the contest at Butler has been pushed back to Jan. 15 due to Butler’s nationally-televised game on ESPNU against Cleveland State on Jan. 13.