Posts Tagged ‘Youngstown State University’

Youngstown State University is opening their home schedule for the 2010 season this Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.  The opponent of the Penguins will be the Butler Bulldogs, 2009 Pioneer League Champions.  Youngstown State is coming off of a 44-14 loss at Penn State but gained national respectability in the loss by not giving up and holding a 7-6 lead through a good portion of the second quarter.  The Penguins have a good track record for home openers winning their last 14 in a row.  Butler is coming off a season-opening 29-13 victory over Albion.

If Youngstown State is to be successful, they will have to concentrate on shutting Butler’s junior quarterback, Andrew Huck, down. Against Albion, Huck was 20-31 for 222 yards with three touchdowns.  Bulldog wide receiver Jordan Koopman had nine receptions good for 108 yards.  Butler finished the game with 519 yards gained on offense.  As strong as the Bulldog offense looked, the defense also played well in holding Albion to 232 yards of team offense, and just 87 yards rushing.

Youngstown State looks to unleash a whole bunch of offense.  QB Kurt Hess did little to look like a nervous freshman in the loss at Penn State.  Hess did not commit a turnover, was only sacked once against a nationally prominent defense, and even led his team to an unlikely time of possession advantage.  Hess’s hookup to Dominique Barnes in the first quarter marked the longest regular season passing play from scrimmage for YSU since 1998.  Barnes had 11 catches (ties school record)  for 135 yards and showed the nation why his speed and elusiveness might get some notice from those teams that play on Sundays.  Speaking of playing on Sundays, Eric Rodemoyer will be.  That is not a prediction, that is a guarantee.  Rodemoyer has been nothing short of dominant in the past eleven weeks winning the Lineman of The Week Award ten of those weeks.

Saturday’s contest will mark the first time these two schools have ever met on a football field.  Both schools are members of the Horizon League for basketball.  Everyone should recall that Butler marched through the NCAA Tournament before losing a heartbreaker in the final game.  For a moment, Youngstown State became an extension of Butler’s fan base.  However on Saturday, a school with a decent football program is coming to Youngstown to play football, not basketball.  I can’t see YSU losing this game unless they shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly.  The bigger, faster, stronger slogan would prove true this weekend if both teams play to their potential.

Eric Wolford is too intense of a coach to let the team suffer any kind of a letdown after Saturday’s loss at Happy Valley.  Barnes and Ely Ducatel both scored touchdowns against the Nittany Lions, both will score plenty this season.  However, this is the week when Youngstown will get their first glimpse of Adaris Bellamy.  Bellamy and Jamaine Cook are going to be household names in Youngstown for the next few years.  Offensive Coordinator Shane Montgomery said it best last week when he stated, “The best way to give Kurt [Hess] confidence is to establish a running game, which in turn will help the passing game.”  Look for the Penguins to have a huge Saturday running the football.

Defensively, Brandian Ross always looks good.  He can tackle and he can cover.  David Rach had a pick against Penn State, but he also broke up another pass and was involved in eight tackles.  Holding All-American Evan Royster to 40 yards is a victory in itself.

Kickoff time is set for 6 p.m. at The Ice Castle.  Expect a huge crowd for a rebirth of attitude and spirit.

Last season David Rach played in all 11 games for Youngstown State.  Not only was he a valuable component of a fast-maturing defense, but he participated in 155 snaps of special teams, second most on the team.  Rach is the typical small town success story as he prospered at North Lima South Range High School making First Team All-Ohio as a Senior under Coach Dan Yeagley. Rach seems very focused on the task at hand, the 2010 football season and disclosed some interesting viewpoints on many subjects.

Paneech: Playing in a smaller conference in high school at South Range, what obstacles did you have to overcome to mingle with all of these big program guys around you?

Rach: I feel like I was just as well prepared as anyone.  Some of the bigger schools have more numbers to choose from and maybe flashier players.  I think there is a lot of talent in the ITCL, especially since they restructured it to make things more competitive. Northeastern Ohio has a solid reputation for churning out good football players.  Coach Yeagley and his staff have a great record at South Range over the past 15 to 20 years and everyone who played there from pee wee up to varsity took great pride in representing the community and the school in such a positive fashion.

Paneech: Have you had any nightmares about tackling Evan Royster when you take the field against Penn State Saturday?

Rach: We have watched him on film, and obviously, he is an outstanding back.  The good thing is that we played Pitt last year and Ohio State the year before and they both had good backs, not taking anything away from him [Royster], because he is as good as anyone we will play against.  Playing any team, you have to line up and make tackles.  I watched Coach [Eric] Wolford’s press conference and he commented that there can be very little margin of error.  You almost have to play perfect.

Paneech: How do you feel about going to a real big stadium and facing a coaching legend in Joe Paterno?

Rach: We are playing 1-AA football here and I don’t care who you talk to, everyone here thinks they are a Division-I guy.  This is our chance to go out there and really show what we can do against a team that the entire country respects on a big stage like the Big-10 Network, it’s really exciting . Whatever we do Saturday holds a lot of merit around the country.  It’s very humbling, not taking anything away from our coaches, to look over there and see Joe Paterno. When you are a kid, you dream of playing for someone like that someday.  I now have the privilege to play against him.  The good news is that you know what you are going to get with him, they have been doing the same things for 50 years.  They are good at what they do, the record speaks for itself.  Obviously, it’s very humbling to be playing against a legend like Coach Paterno.

Paneech: You do well academically, what is it you wish to do when your studies are completed here at YSU?

Rach: I’m an Integrated Science Major in Education and I am also going to get my minor in Mathematics.  I take pride in my education like everyone else out here.  I know that football is going to end someday and that I will have to move on to something else in life, preferably teaching and coaching.

Paneech: How tough is the adjustment of going from having nothing to do a month-and-a-half ago to now having class, practice, and game preparations?

Rach: I got a week off this Summer to go to Myrtle Beach with my family.  We really haven’t had much of a break since the new coaching staff got here, we have been grinding.  Last year we were 6-5 and two years ago we were 4-8 and we realized that things needed to change.  Being picked to finish seventh in the conference is something we earned from the way we played the last couple of years.  It drives us and there is nobody here who thinks we are a seventh place team and we have to play hard week in and week out to prove that.

Paneech: Explain the differences between the Heacock and Wolford styles.

Rach: I don’t have a bad thing to say about anybody on either staff.  I think the biggest difference now is that the intensity has really picked up.  There are a lot of new faces, it took the first couple of weeks just to learn everybody’s names.  It’s a fresh start and a change that I hope transpires over to the field.

Paneech: What NFL linebacker do you admire the most?

Rach: Well, I am a Cleveland Browns fan, but my favorite NFL Linebacker is Brian Urlacher. He is relied upon to do everything and is kind of undersized.  He plays the game the right way and is a class act.

One Word Answers

Favorite Cereal: Lucky Charms.

Favorite Movie: Wedding Crashers.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

Best Class At YSU: Turning Points in US History II.

Toppings On a Pizza: Pizza Hut Meat Lover.

Worst Habit: Swearing.  When I get mad, I get a little mouthy.

Favorite Drink: Water with a lemon slice.

Favorite TV Show: Deadliest Catch.

Vegas or Cancun: Vegas.

Biggest Wish In Life: To coach college football somewhere down the road.

Stephen Meadows is one of the Youngstown State Football players that carried over and made the successful transition between a new coach and an old one.  In the interview with Meadows, he touches on the differences between Coaches Heacock (2009) and Wolford (2010).  We also discussed everything from tattoos to Brett Favre to what I was chewing.  Meadows can come off as a little wild, but said that he has never felt as confident going into a season as he does with this years YSU team.

Paneech: You played linebacker when you were in high school and now you are a defensive end in college.  With today’s terminologically happy defenses, is there much difference?

Meadows: In high school I was free to pretty much roam around the field and find the action.  At the college level it is very different.  In college you have a gap you have to hold down and if you can’t do the job, you are not going to be playing.  Everybody on defense has a job, and if everyone does their job, we are going to win games.

Paneech: You are one of the carryover guys from last year playing under Coach Heacock to this year playing for Coach Wolford.  What is the difference between the two styles and was there a rough transition?

Meadows: I was recruited by Heacock and I fell in love with this place.  Heacock was a great coach and I respect him to the fullest. When he left here, it was a sad time until Wolford came in and stepped the intensity up.  There were some serious changes that he made when he got here and all of the slackers are gone now.  We knew that if you were not going to play football the Penguin way then you needed to get out.  The biggest changes were the intensity and the overall atmosphere.

Paneech: How big of a thrill is it going to be to play at Happy Valley against #14 Penn State?

Meadows: It’s going to be a heck of a thrill.  I’m not one to look in the stands when I’m on the field and I heard it gets loud over there, I’m ready to shut ’em up.

Paneech: What are you majoring in and how is school going?

Meadows: I am majoring in business management, and it is going great.  I’m in the new Williamson School of Business and I’m trying hard to keep my eyes open.

Paneech: How did you feel when you heard that YSU was picked to finish seventh this season?

Meadows: Mad!  Ever since I got here we have been at the bottom of the food chain.  I would rather let our actions speak for themselves this season. I am pretty confident in this team, in fact, I am more confident in this team than I have been on any other team that I have ever been on.  This is a tight group, I don’t feel like I have guys that I play football with, I feel like I have brothers.

Paneech: What player in the NFL do you try to imitate, or take after, when you are on the field?

Meadows: My favorite team is the Green Bay Packers, but I am a Brett Favre guy.  No matter what is going on around him, he is going to play every snap that he can whether it be the cold or the pain, he is out there giving his all.  As far as playing style, I like the way Jarred Allen and Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, AJ Hawk – all tbose guys.

Paneech: What is the biggest factor you would attribute your success to?

Meadows: I had a long road to get here.  My high school and Pop Warner coaches taught me the fundamentals and got my head right to get to this level.

Paneech: What do you do when you have some free time?

Meadows: I enjoy cranking up the heavy metal and shooting some pool with my boys, that’s what I like to do.

Paneech: You have quite the collection of tattoos.  How did that start and how many are there?

Meadows: I got my first tattoo when I was 16.  I was playing inside linebacker in a 4-4 defense, the buddy I had that played to my right was Russell Isaac Powell and he shot himself so I went and got a RIP tattoo on my right arm.  Then to make my mom happy, I got an ‘In God We Trust‘ tattoo on the inside of my arm.  The rest have accumulated over the years, my most recent is the big lion’s head (pointing) with a cross going through it which symbolizes that through God’s strength you can kill anything.  I have probably made at least 30 trips to the shops.  Everything is connected, so it all counts as one.

One Word Answers

Favorite Cereal: Sugar Smacks.

Favorite TV Show: Trailer Park Boys.

Biggest Phobia: Spiders.

Best Movie Ever Made: Braveheart.

The Animal You Most Resemble: Great White Shark.

Best Class Offered At YSU: Home Economics.

Worst Habit: No sleeves in the Winter.

Favorite Drink: Grape Gatorade.

2011 Super Bowl Prediction: Minnesota Vikings versus Indianapolis Colts.

Vegas or Cancun: Vegas!

The Youngstown State University football program has a full plate this season.  On September 4, the Penguins travel to Happy Valley for a visit with the #14 team in the country, Penn State.  The Penguins will play every Missouri Valley Conference game with a chip on their shoulders after being picked to finish seventh in the conference.  Monday night the Penguins opened full-contact practice with a bang at a public workout.

The most obvious thing that was different in the Summer edition of the “Oklahoma” drill compared to the Spring version was the increased vibe of intensity.  In the Spring, the coaches did most of the pointing, yelling, and screaming. At Stambaugh Stadium on Monday the players made the noise, hit with aggression, got into each others faces, and the coaches were a side dish this time.

Eric Wolford, if for nothing else, has a feather in his new cap already – the ability to motivate.  Wolford is a no-nonsense coach who has and will continue to run a tight ship.  Vowing to eliminate all of the riff-raff and dead weight is one thing, but actually doing just that in a very short period of time is commendable.

After the Oklahoma drills, the offense and defense scrimmaged under game conditions.  Purdue transfer Najee Tyler looked like the frontrunner for the quarterback derby.  Tyler looks like a young Randall Cunningham and will create headaches for defensive coordinators all season.  Another newcomer, Adaris Bellamy had a couple of slick runs for the offense.  Eric Rodemoyer, Nick Gooden, and Torrance Nicholson all looked sharp and focused.  Dominique Barnes is going to have a monster season and played consistently during the scrimmage portion Monday.

Penn State plays #1 Alabama in week two of the upcoming season, a week after they face YSU.  Don’t look too far ahead JoPa, the kids from the valley are coming to visit.

2010

Nothing is easy. Taking over something that never worked right in the first place and trying to fix it is even harder. Bob Boldon has accepted the challenge of reviving a deflated YSU Women’s Basketball program with open arms.  In fact, Boldon expects to win, as soon as possible.  Hard to believe that the Sophomore girls on this team have never won a game.  In fact, going into this season it will be almost two full years since the team’s Juniors can recall what it was like to win.  Boldon is refreshing. I was ready to suit up for him after our talk, he will provide motivation and technique that this program has sorely missed.

Paneech: Let’s start out talking about where you have been and what you have picked up to help you become better prepared to be a Division I basketball coach.

Boldon: Lambuth was my second head coaching job.  It was good, because it helped me realize all of the things that I did wrong at my first head coaching job.  We played in a National Championship game, which was a great experience.  My first job was at Monticello, a team that only won one conference game the year before I got there, it was  complete rebuilding project.  We finished in third place my first year.  Every team I ever coached could score, offense comes easy to me, but I realized that I needed to become a better defensive coach.

Paneech: Presently, you have taken on the “Bill Parcells” role of taking a mess and making it happen.  Will it work at YSU?

Boldon: I want to be successful, and there are going to be people who say it can’t be done.  I have a staff with expectations to be successful.  It’s hard to make any real predictions until I get to know the players.  I expect to win every game we play.  My staff and I have watched almost all of last year’s conference games, and defense is an issue.  Offensively, the shooting percentages were horrendous.   We are going to be a good three-point shooting team, and that is something that can’t just happen, magically. The players have to take responsibility and games are won on days like today, not on the day of a game.

Paneech: What kind of player will you go out and look for?  A three-point specialist, a defensive stopper, a good rebounder?  Where is the biggest need at right now?

Boldon: We are looking for shooters and want to improve the offense immediately.  We will get better defensively by working hard at it and learning proper positioning, but the shooter is something we want.  As far as I know there will be 14 girls here on the first day of school ready to go.  Anything less than that number would really be a surprise to me.  Shooter is on the top of the list.

Paneech: How demoralizing is it for a player on a team to go 0-30 and can they be turned into winners after that?

Boldon: I think they have embraced the fresh start.  They know that this new staff has set forth different expectations, and at least those expectations are coming from a different person, if nothing else. Going through a year like that had to be tough and moving forward I’m sure it is something that none of them want to experience ever again.

Paneech: Have you adjusted to Youngstown yet?  Are there things here that you like already?

Boldon: We are here now and we have been ordering in a lot trying to get the house in order, it is a wreck.  I keep hearing about how I have to get to the Canfield Fair and how much my kids will enjoy it.

Paneech:  Yeah, the Canfield Fair is pretty unique, it is one of the few places you can go pet a pig and be eating a sausage sandwich five minutes later.

Boldon: (laughing) Yeah, that is a little bit ironic I guess.  I like the community  and the people are very supportive.  My staff and I try to go different places and have lunch, it’s been really good so far.  The community is really buzzing about the football team and that new staff, and their season comes first, and I am excited as it is one of my favorite sports.  The football team at any college set the tone and can get people geared up for the Winter sports.

Paneech: You go through the interview process with Mr. Strollo (above), does he tell you that you have to win and win now?  Does he want you to build from the ground up?  Or does he want anything better than the last few years to be the band-aid for now?

Boldon: Mr. Strollo showed the same expectations as I did in that we both want to win ball games.  There is nobody in this administration who wants to win more than I do, and I say that for my staff as well.  They all left jobs to come here and turn this around, and they did not come here to lose.  The idea that it is going to take three, four, or even five years is something that we are not going to lean on.

Paneech: Do you ever play those little nightmare scenarios in your head where you are coaching that first game and look around to see about twenty people?

Boldon: Not really.  If there is nobody at our first couple of games, I can’t say I blame them for not coming.  I’m not in a rush to get to Jacob’s Field these days.  After we win a couple of games, I would expect the interest to grow.

One Word Answers

Favorite Beverage: v-8 Splash.

Worst Habit: Biting My Nails.

Favorite Meal of The Day: Lunch, but I like ’em all.

Best Basketball Movie Ever: Hoosiers.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

Best Show On Television: The Mentalist.

Favorite NBA Team: The Cavs.

Game You Want To Make An Impression With: Opener vs Pitt.

Favorite Fast Food: Subway.

With Youngstown State on the cusp of starting the Eric Wolford Era, here are some notes from the university:

• The Missouri Valley Football Conference announced this week that the Youngstown State at Western Illinois game on Oct. 16 at Hanson Field in Macomb, Ill. will be a part of the league’s MVFC television package.  For the 12th-straight season, the Missouri Valley Football Conference is coordinating an in-house television package. The games will be produced for syndication on over-the-air and cable television stations throughout the Midwest. Each of the four conference-produced games will air live or taped on FS Midwest and Fox College Sports (FCS), which has a national distribution of 55 million homes.
• Youngstown State senior wide receiver Dominique Barnes and offensive guard Eric Rodemoyer were named preseason first-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference by Phil Steele publications.
• Individual game tickets for the home football slate go on sale Monday, August 2 at the YSU Athletic Ticket Office. Reserved seat tickets are $16 per contest while general admission tickets are $12. During the month of September, fans can purchase GA tickets for just $5 each. For information contact the YSU Athletic Ticket Office at (330) 941-1978.
• Coach Eric Wolford and the Penguins will usher in the first full-contact practice of the fall with a special Monday Night Football on August 9. The Guins will be in pads for the first time that evening. The event will feature the “Oklahoma Drill” followed by a scrimmage at Stambaugh Stadium.

This past Winter, one of the true legends of the Youngstown area stepped away from being simply the best at what he did.  Pete Mollica was a writer for the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper for 33 years, and well-respected by those he wrote with and about.  I had the pleasure of getting to know Mollica by sitting next to him at various YSU sporting events.  Mollica is just one of those people that I felt I knew before I actually met him though, he was just that good of a writer.

Unfortunately, the last year of Mollica’s career was spent covering the end of the Jon Heacock era and an 0-30 YSU Women’s Basketball season that set the wrong records.

To walk into a Mahoning Valley Scrappers press box Thursday evening and see Mollica there doing his thing for the Vindicator brought a smile to my face.  “I told Rob [Todor] if he needed help, that I would be able to cover some stuff.  I don’t want to do alot, a game here and there, maybe a game a week during high school football.”

When the subject of retirement came up, Mollica was candid in claiming a strong passion for golf.  “I’m working harder now doing stuff around the house than I did when I was working.  I do try to get out and play golf at least twice a week and sometimes in tournaments or scrambles on a weekend,” claimed Mollica.

Mollica is being spelled by a couple of very good writers in John Moffett and Joe Scalzo who split the Youngstown State activities and will appear at Scrappers games throughout the Summer.  “Joe is my hero.  I feel like he has done more in six months than I did in thirty years.  John is also doing a great job.  They are both great writers,” added Mollica.

The lack of Pete Mollica in the Youngstown newspapers is not a downplay to the efforts of Moffett and Scalzo, I agree with Mollica that they are both great at what they do, I just feel they do it their way, and Pete did it his way.

Rick Kravitz has been around the game of football for a long time.  He has coached on the big stage with experience at Western Michigan and North Carolina State, and also at South Florida where he helped a program jump to higher levels.  Coach Kravitz will serve as Defensive Coordinator under the new Eric Wolford regime that has the town buzzing.  I made the comment that Kravitz looks like the guy you could swear was on the opposing bocce team at the MVR for the last five years, he just looks like he has been in Youngstown.  I recently had a chance to speak with him about technology, food, and of course, YSU Football.

Paneech:  How has Youngstown been for you so far?

Kravitz:  I love the community.  Everywhere I go seems to have great food and I think I gained ten pounds since I got up here.  The people are really warm and already recognize us.  We will go to a restaurant to eat and people are coming up to me asking, ‘hey coach, how are we gonna do this year?‘  I have coached at some supposedly big colleges but have never seen the interest as this community shows in Youngstown toward the football program.

Paneech:  What kind of defense will you run as a base this season?

Kravitz:  We will run some variation of a four-man front.  We will change and use a three-man front sometimes.  We will be an aggressive, attacking defense that goes after people.  I don’t like sitting still and all of the movement we will use can make things happen.

Paneech:  Explain how football terminology has changed so much in the past twenty years and gets more complicated every season.  In the past, a defensive end in a 50 would have outside containment and Will, Mike, and Sam didn’t exist.  What is going on with all of these names?

Kravitz:  (laughing) When I first started, which seems now like pre-Civil War, it was the way you talked about it.  The end was a box guy and we would only see an I-backfield or an I-twin set.  If a team dropped to just one back it was really shocking.  Nowadays, with everything so wide open, you need a new category to put everything into.  As the offenses have evolved, we have been forced to come up with new terms.

Paneech:  Who is the greatest college coach you have worked with in the past?

Kravitz:  I have been lucky to have been around some really good people.  Ken Riley, who helped me get my start at Florida A & M, was a great influence.  He is a name that people in the South might know, he played for the Bengals.  I was fortunate to be with Chuck Amato at North Carolina State.  I don’t know who would be the greatest, but all of the guys I have worked with have left their mark on me.

Paneech:  Who is the best college football coach that you have never gotten a chance to work with?

Kravitz:  Oh boy, that’s tough because there are so many good ones.  I lived in Florida, so I have always admired Coach Spurrier and what he did at Florida.  In the same state, Jimmy Johnson at Miami and Bobby Bowden at Florida State were great ones. 

Paneech:  Walk me through a typical day right now, and how it may change in a month.

Kravitz:  I’ll get up around seven, which is pretty late for a football coach.  I get here around eight and we share some scripture before we head into an 8:30 staff meeting.  We are currently preparing scouting reports for our first four opponents.  After that we try to spend time focusing on recruits and how our guys are doing in classes.  I usually go for a run around noon, usually very slowly.  Then I will come back and grab a sandwich.  My wife did a great job making food this week, and a good sandwich is is what gets me to the finish line.  We then finish compiling everything and usually get out of here about 5:30.  In about a month, I will be getting here by six a.m. and getting out at God knows what time.  Wolf [Coach Wolford] is a family guy, so I don’t think time will be too ridiculous.

Paneech:  Spending all of that time in Florida, do you fear the shoveling of snow in about six months?

Kravitz:  I got a taste of it when I was in Michigan.  I was watching television one night, and these Winter weather advisories kept coming on the screen, and I just laughed.  I quit laughing when I looked outside and couldn’t see the ground anymore, they should just say blizzard.  To that point, I had never walked in it, never drove a car in it, and I still am not real fond of it.

Paneech:  Has technology ruined the athletic development of kids in America?

Kravitz:  Well, some kids still get out and do things, and those are the ones who will excel in sports.  My three year-old grandson is outside hitting balls every day.  You are right, there is an effect, but it will be more of a concern with high schools.  We still have the ability at this level to select the better athletes from high schools, but I can see it being a growing  problem at that level.

Paneech:  Having finished Spring workouts, who made a good impression on you.

Kravitz:  I was impressed with quite a few guys.  Deonta Tate is a guy that can bend his knees and make some plays.  Torrance Nicholson is going to do a great job for us up front.  Andre Elliott had a great Spring at Safety.  John Sasson also looked good.  When Coach Wolford came in here, he changed the rules.  We are trying to get back to good hard-nosed football by doing physical things and one-on-one drills.  These kids that I have mentioned have bought into the system.  I think the more we do, that more kids will also buy in.  We need to work on guys being better edge players and we need a little more depth up front.

One Word Answers

Favorite Meal of The Day:  Dinner.

Best Album Ever Made:  Meet The Beatles.

Favorite Beverage:  Arnold Palmer Iced Tea.

Favorite TV Shows:  Two And A Half Men and Criminal Minds.

Toppings You Get On A Pizza:  I love meat, so sausage, pepperoni, hamburger, and some mushrooms.

Best Movie Ever Made:  The Godfather. (Told you he fit in).

Biggest Phobia:  Heights.

Favorite NFL Team:  Tamba Bay.

One Word To Describe Eric Wolford:  Intense.

Worst Habit:  Eating too much.

Ahhh… Warm weather, festivals, golf, gardens, swimming, and YSU Football just around the corner.  September 4 is less than three months away and soon the Penguins of Youngstown State will be sweating in preparation for their trip to Happy Valley.  The YSU ticket office is open and there are some quality games scheduled to take place at the Ice Castle this season.  New Coach, Eric Wolford, wants these days to be community-based gatherings of fraternal celebration.  Buy a tailgate pass when you get your tickets.

Here is a promo schedule of this year’s YSU home schedule:

Sept. 11 (Butler, 6 p.m.) State Farm Kids Day (tailgate); Coca-Cola / 27 WKBN Schedule Magnet giveaway; BJ Alan Phantom Fireworks Postgame Extravaganza;  Howland High School Marching Band at half; $5 Super September game tickets.

Sept. 18 (Central Connecticut St,  6 p.m.) State Farm Kids Day (tailgate); PNC Bank / Fox Youngstown schedule poster giveaway;  BJ Alan Phantom Fireworks Postgame Extravaganza;  Lakeview High School Marching Band at half;  $5 Super September game tickets.

Sept. 25 (Southern Illinois,  4 p.m.) State Farm Kids Day (tailgate);  Coca-Cola / WFMJ TV-21 / Farmers National Bank water bottle giveaway;  Boardman High School Marching Band at half;  $5 Super September game tickets.

Oct. 9 (North Dakota St., 4 p.m.) McDonald’s / myvalleysports.com keychain giveaway;  Poland High School Marching Band at half.

Oct. 30 (Northern Iowa, 1 p.m.) Homecoming! Athletic Hall of Fame Game;  Lyden Oil / WFMJ TV-21 Stadium Cup giveaway;  Homecoming Parade before the kickoff.

The YSU Women’s Softball Team has signed Samantha Snodgrass.  She was recently named the Gatorade Player of The Year for the entire State of West Virginia.  Snodgrass pitched 21 consecutive innings of scoreless ball and recorded 11 strikeouts in a game then came back and whiffed 14 in the next game during West Virginia’s State Tournament.  She posted a 28-1 record with an ERA of 0.39 during the regular season.

Oh, yeah, she can hit too.  Snodgrass batted .473 with 13 homers and compiled 54 RBI.  Welcome to YSU!

• Leetonia’s Aaron Merrill is at it again.  Merrill has been breaking shot put and discus records anywhere he has thrown.  Merrill was recently selected First-Team ESPN The Magazine/ CoSIDA All-District IV for the second year in a row.  Merrill sports a 3.79 GPA and is majoring in Criminal Justice.  Merrill, who posted a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in the Spring Semester, won the indoor and outdoor shot put conference titles.
• YSU Baseball Sr. Tom Clayton was named the Player of The Year in the Horizon League.  Clayton was the first Penguin in 56 years to earn such notoriety.  Clayton batted .414, scored 43 runs, hit 15 doubles and 10 home runs and knocked in 44 runners in 47 games this season.
• Speaking of baseball success, Jacke Healey and Eric Marzec were selected late in the 2010 MLB Draft.  Good luck to both of the former Penguin standouts!

In my opinion, the Stone Temple Pilots are one of the most unheralded musical acts in American music history.  Everyone knows that frontman Scott Weiland has had problems keeping his nose clean since 1992.  However, the gifted singer has not touched heroin in seven years and admitted on Howard Stern’s Sirius Radio show that he hasn’t done any drugs in over three years.  STP has a brand new studio disc coming out May 25th.  The first single is called Between The Lines and the magical sound and harmonies are back.  The self-titled new release will be followed up with an extensive tour.  Be on the lookout for the Stone Temple Pilots to make big noise this Summer.

Here are some great stories from other sites:

Zoner Sports has a brawl in the stands at the old ball game from Chicago at a recent White Sox game.

7th Inning Stache asks the question Should Hanley Ramirez be traded? to baseball fans everywhere.

Guyism thinks at least ten athletes deserve their own star on the walk of fame.

PSAMP examines a Steelers 5th Super Bowl t-shirt in this weeks installment of Great Moments in Unlicensed Pittsburgh Sports Merchandise.

Babes Love Baseball has an entertaining look at what people who aren’t good enough to play real baseball do to feel like they can.

The Cage Doctors find Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson still doing a lot of trash talking leading up to UFC 114.

Lets Go Guins has the story of why Viginia Tech 3-star linebacker Jake Johnson is transferring to Youngstown State University.

The Youngstown Phantoms have posted their draft picks on the official website and a local named JT Miller from East Palestine is now aboard.