On a perfect Fall evening, a football game involving two teams in a must-win situation took place in Youngstown.  Youngstown State scored 31 first half points and Western Illinois didn’t score any.  However, Western Illinois scored 21 second half points, and YSU failed to score a point.  Combine the two very different halves and the result is a 31-21 YSU victory. 

Youngstown State wasted little time getting on the scoreboard.  Western Illinois booted the opening kickoff out-of-bounds giving YSU the ball on their own 40.  Brandon Summers and the offense efficiently marched 60 yards in 10 plays.  Kevin Smith capped the opening scoring drive with a 1-yard TD to give YSU a 7-0 lead.  This marked the first time all year that YSU scored on their opening possession. 

After stuffing the Leathernecks, the Penguins took over on their own 30 and marched 70 yards in 10 plays and Summers found Donald Jones for a 4-yard touchdown to increase the Penguin lead to 14-0 with 1:03 left in the first quarter.  Kevin Smith had a key 26-yard run on the drive.

Western Illinois went 3-and-out.  On the last play of the first quarter, Lenny Wicks returned a Leatherneck punt 25 yards to the WIU 38.  At the end of one, it was all YSU, 14-0.

YSU covered 38 yards in 5 plays to increase the lead to 21-0.  It was the Dana Brown show on this particular drive as Brown carried the ball on every  play with the last being a one yard rushing touchdown at 12:33 of the second quarter.

In a continual display of dominance, YSU’s Na’eem Outler sacked WIU quarterback Wil Lunt and Sir Demarco Bledsoe pounced on the ball.  On the very first offensive play, Summers went to the end zone for Donald Jones who made a remarkable effort but was interfered with giving YSU first-and-goal on the Leatherneck 8-yard line.  Two plays later, Summers hooked up with Dominique Barnes for the eight yard score pushing the margin to 28-0 with 10:30 left in the first half.

Stephen Blose connected on a 27-yard field goal with 1:52 left in the half.  The Penguin drive was 54 yards in 9 plays.  It almost seemed as though the Penguins were concentrating more on chewing clock and getting Jabari Scott some carries.  To this point, everything had clicked on offense, all three running backs had some yards, and Summers was 9 for 9 passing.

On the ensuing kickoff, YSU’s Brandian Ross recovered a fumble to give the Penguins the ball on WIU’s 37-yard line.  The Penguins were unable to convert the turnover into any points however, about the only bad series they ran in the first half.  Western Illinois seemed content to just run the clock out and try to get to the locker for a halftime regrouping session.  At the half, this one was all YSU as the Penguins dominated the Leathernecks in every possible statistic for a 31-0 lead at the break.

Western Illionois came out a better team in the second half.  The Leathernecks scored on a 30-yard strike from Lunt to Justin Rideau.  The scoring drive was 9 plays for 77 yards and cut the YSU lead to 31-7 with 10:23 left in the third quarter.

Brandon Summers was intercepted by Stephen Moore and a personal foul gave the ball to WIU at the YSU 38.  On a third-and-22, YSU got flagged for a roughing the passer penalty giving Western Illinois the ball on the YSU 12.  On the very next play, Dre Gibbs coughed up the ball by the YSU goal line and Lenny Wicks recovered for the Penguins to help swing the momentum back to the side it was on the entire first half.

At the end of the third quarter, YSU maintained their 31-7 lead with a strong running attack that chewed the last six minutes of the quarter up.  With the start of the fourth quarter, YSU had the ball on their own 48.  The first play of the fourth quarter, however, proved costly as Summers was chased down from behind and the ball came loose.  Brandon Kreczmer recovered the ball for the Leathernecks at YSU’s 34.

With 12:25 left in the game, Western Illinois got an 11-yard scamper from Gibbs to successfully convert the turnover into points and further cut into the dwindling YSU lead, now 31-14.

The Leathernecks continued marching back as Lito Senatus caught a bullet from Lunt for 12 yards and a touchdown with 7:54 remaining in the game.  The lead was down to 31-21 and Western Illinois was playing as good as YSU did in the first half.  Conversely, YSU was playing as poorly as Western did in the first half. 

After another three-and-out, YSU punted the ball away.  Western Illinois started their next drive on their own 29.  Andre Elliott blitzed and absolutely smashed Lunt as he was releasing a pass which wobbled about half of its intended ditance where David Rach was waiting to intercept the ball back for the Penguins. 

YSU successfully chewed up the rest of the fourth quarter on the shoulders of Senior TB Kevin Smith (pictured) and held off a fierce Leatherneck comeback to preserve what seemed like a blowout but ended up somewhat of a nailbiter.

For YSU, Kevin Smith finished with 113 yards on 28 carries and a TD.  Donald Jones caught 8 passes for 94 yards and one TD.  Brandon Summers finished 12-18 for 134 yards, an interception, and two TD’s.  Stephen Blose had a good day as he kicked four extra points and was 1/1 on field goals.

Western Illinois was headed by Dre Gibbs who finished the game with 162 all-purpose yards (155 rushing, 7 receiving).  QB Wil Lunt was 9-19 for 109 yards, one interception, and two TD’s.  Justin Rideau caught 5 Lunt passes for 79 yards and 2 TD’s.  The statistic that buried the Leathernecks was penalty yards.  WIU accumulated 11 penalties for 108 yards compared to YSU having only five penalties.

After the game, Coach Jon Heacock praised the effort of his opponent.  “I don’t care what the records are.  You better show up and play every minute of every game on Saturday.  Give them [Western Illinois] credit for fighting until the end and playing hard.  We have some time [with the bye week] to pick out the things we can’t do and the things that we can do and become more consistent.”

Senior TB Kevin Smith, who has a couple of fumbles this season commented on grinding out the last four minutes of the game.  “It felt good.  I had a couple of drops and it felt good that the coaches had the confidence in me to give me the ball and run down the clock.”

Lenny Wicks talked about whether or not he was ready for the bye week.  “Yes, we have some time to rest and get alot of practice in to get ready for Southern Illinois because that’s a big game.”

YSU travels to Southern Illinois for an October 24th game.  With the extra week of preparation, Coach Heacock will have the team ready for that big game.