Archive for September, 2010

Youngstown State University kicked off the 2010 football season with a new coach and a new attitude.  The Penguins ventured to Happy Valley under the guidance of new coach, Eric Wolford, to face the #14 Penn State Nittany Lions and coaching royalty, Joe Paterno.  The game was entertaining through the first half and a Penguin fan could grasp the nerves of a potential upset.  However, Penn State flexed some muscle in the second half and ran off 41 unanswered points in posting a 44-14 victory over YSU.

Much can be said about the positives that YSU displayed.  The one that fans should really be encouraged by was that this team fought until the final whistle and not once during this game did anyone quit or hang their head in defeat.  That attitude can be credited solely to Rookie Coach Eric Wolford.  The two touchdowns that YSU scored were a first in the sense that they had never hit paydirt against a BCS opponent, and they did it twice.  Another encouraging sign was the play of Kurt Hess.  For a kid that had never taken a snap at the college level, to complete 84% of your passes and not turn the ball over the entire game will do wonders for your confidence and the team’s faith in Hess as a leader.

The people who are veterans coming back played well.  If you have the game taped, go back and watch LG Eric Rodemoyer’s performance.  He will grade out at only a couple of negative plays and was driving Penn State lineman off of the ball the whole game.  Dominique Barnes (pictured) caught 11 passes for 134 yards and scored a touchdown.  The pitch and catch from Hess to Barnes capped a 3-play 80-yard drive that put the Penguins ahead 7-3.  YSU would hold that lead for almost a quarter.  Three Penn State field goals and a touchdown had the Nittany Lions ahead 16-7 at the half.

The second half may have exposed some things YSU has to get better at.  Chaz Powell returned the second half kickoff 100 yards to boost the lead to 23-7.  Penn State definitely outplayed YSU on special teams and the Penguins will need to improve in that area moving forward.  The other thing the Penguins need to do is eliminate penalties.  Saturday afternoon YSU had 8 penalties for 65 yards, way too much against any team.

Penn State was also quarterbacked by a freshman, Robert Bolden.  Bolden started a little sluggish but got rolling on a scoring drive before the half.  Bolden ended up 20-29 for 239 yards and two TD’s.  His favorite target was Brett Brackett, a senior co-captain, who caught 8 passes for 98 yards.  Evan Royster was pretty well kept in check by the Penguin Defense as he carried the ball 11 times for 40 yards (3.6 ypc).

Joe Paterno finished the game with career victory #395, most among major college coaches.  Eric Wolford dropped to 0-1 career with the loss, but much better days will come for this young coach.  If Wolford coaches 45 years, he might be where Paterno currently sits in the win column, I have that much faith in him and the great staff he has assembled.  One guarantee from this website, YSU will not finish any worse than fourth place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference this season.

Youngstown State has to now shift their focus to the home opener against Pioneer League 2009 Champion, Butler.  By whacking the negatives and expanding on the positives, there isn’t a team left on YSU’s 2010 schedule that should not be concerned about losing.

The Negro Leagues were honored at Eastwood Field before Friday’s  Scrappers game with Jamestown. Ted Toles, who played in the historical league was on-hand to sign autographs and share memories from his heyday.  Toles resides in nearby Warren, Ohio.  I got a chance to sneak a couple of questions his way and was amused by some of his answers.  This man can answer a question in great detail.

Toles joined Charlie Caffle’s Warren GC team right out of high school.  In 1946, Toles pitched for the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro Leagues.  Toles later toured the country with the Jackie Robinson All-Stars.  While with Robinson’s All-Star group, Toles shared the fields with Larry Doby and Bill White, two guys who turned their fortunes into successful Major League Baseball careers.  Toles played in the developmental systems for Cleveland, New York (Giants), and Philadelphia and was a standout for the New Castle Minor League team.

I asked Toles how today’s players shape up and was impressed with his answer.  “They are all one-dimensional these days.  Back when I played, you were taught to learn everything, not to just be good at one thing like these guys.  People spent time throwing at a hole in a wall for hours, it helped to hit spots and control the pitches.”

Toles also shared a Jackie Robinson story.  “Jackie was Jackie, and he had an attitude sometimes. He was under contract to play a charity game in Hollywood one year and didn’t feel as though he was getting the money he deserved to play.  Bob Feller went into the locker room and told him he was blowing his chance to get to the majors, but Jackie wouldn’t hear it.  That game was loaded with stars, I remember James Cagney and many celebrities showing up.  But Jackie just wouldn’t come out.  Years later me, Jackie, and Feller were in a room together sharing old times and the story came up.  Jackie denied the whole thing, but me and Feller let him hear it.”

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.

It was a familiar scenario for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. The formula this season has been for a starting pitcher to throw well and then hope the bullpen can hold on.  The Scrappers starters all have respectable ERA’s.  The formula held true as Michael Goodnight (above) pitched five solid innings of scoreless baseball and struck out six Auburn Doubledays before exiting the game with a 1-0 lead.  True to the script, the offense struggled and the bullpen could not hold the lead in a 3-1 loss.

The Scrappers got the first run of the game in the second inning when DH Kevin Rucker reached base and scored on a Moises Montero ball that should have been caught.  Doubledays LF Yeico Aponte ran too far in on a routine fly ball and Rucker trotted home uncontested to give the Scrappers a 1-0 lead.

JD Goryl started the sixth inning for the Scrappers.  Jon Fernandez started the inning with a double.  Giovanny Urshela (below) had an uncharacteristic error to put men on first and second with nobody out.  Goryl was hit hard but in his defense, could have gotten out of the inning unscathed.  As the law of averages would have it, Auburn pushed a run across to tie the game.

The other JD, JD Reichenbach, came out to start the eighth for the Scrappers.  The big lefty was pumped up and threw hard, in the eighth.  The ninth inning however, was a different story as Lance Durham connected for a monstrous two-run homer to right field to put Auburn up 3-1.

The Scrappers put together a ninth inning rally showing some heart.  Rucker and Montero had back-to-back singles for Mahoning Valley.  Aaron Fields bunted to move the runners to second and third.  Trent Baker struck out to set the stage for Nick Bartolone who walked.  Enter Carlos Moncrief with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.  Moncrief was 0-4 in the game with three strikeouts coming into this key at bat.  Moncrief fouled a ball inches off of the left field line that would have, at the very least, tied the game.  On the next pitch, Moncrief whiffed and the Scrappers lost, 3-1.

Travis Fryman said the game indeed followed a pattern of predictability.  “Our lack of run production all year has forced our pitching staff to be perfect. By putting a young pitcher in those types of pressure situations, they are more likely to make mistakes.  We are just concentrating on development of the guys and we saw that with the effort from Goodnight tonight.”