Archive for October, 2011

Lights Out  Management and Inside Boxing are gearing up for what looks to be a terrific boxing card on November 19.  The fights will take place at St. Lucy’s Assumption Center in Campbell.  Jake Giuriceo will headline the card as he goes for his first belt, the UBO All-American Lightweight title.  Several other local boxers are listed to be on the card.

Giuriceo (13-0-1) will face stiff competition in his first quest for national respect.  The Bull is set to take on Bryne Green (7-4-1) who fights out of Finland, New Jersey.  Don’t let Green’s record deceive you.  In his last three fights, Green beat a fighter who came in at 4-0, received a draw verdict against an opponent who was 5-2, and won his last fight against a fighter who was 14-4.  This will be no cake walk for Giuriceo.

Other fighters, some local, who are set to appear at the event include Chris Koval, Juan Salinas, Marco Hall, Vincent O’Neil, Wilkins Santiago, and Dante Moore.  The fight will be the second with Mike Cefalde calling the shots for Lights Out.  Giuriceo headlined a good card at Cene Park in August for Cefalde.

Tickets for the event are available at Patsy’s Bar, First Choice Rentals, The Wine Cellar, Check-N-Go, and Jensen Lock & Alarm.

More details leading up to the event will be posted as I get them.

With the leaves starting to fall and football taking center stage, the YSU baseball team participated in a scrimmage on a sunny Summer-like Sunday.  I am sorry to report no scoring from the game, as I had to leave during the third inning.  However, I was able to snag a few decent pictures worth sharing while there.  Batter Up…

Coach Pasquale Studying His Notes

Craig Goubeaux Takes A Cut

Youngstown State seems to be struggling for answers to this point of their season.  For the second conference game in a row, YSU played a very strong second half on both sides of the ball, but came up short, falling 35-28 to South Dakota State.  The loss marks the fourth time the Jackrabbits have got by the Penguins (2-3 ,1-2) since they joined the conference four years ago.

“We settled down a little bit in the second half.  It is very difficult when you take a lead.  We just haven’t arrived yet and we are going to have to make some changes, put some different guys in spots and do something different.”, said coach Eric Wolford.  “There is plenty of blame to spread around, but there is plenty of football left.  We have had so many losses and I have coached a lot of football, and this was a difficult loss.  Give them credit, they played hard.  They recruit too, they have scholarships too.”

YSU put the first points on the scoreboard when Jamaine Cook tallied for a seven-yard strike capping off a nice eleven play, 75 yard drive which featured some new wrinkles.  Those new wrinkles included using a three-back set with TE David Rogers lined up in the backfield and Adaris Bellamy motioning out of the backfield.

The Penguins lead would be short lived as the Jackrabbits put up two touchdowns by the end of the quarter to hold a 14-7 lead. Tyrel Kool punched in the first score from a yard out.  On their next possession, Dale Moss hauled in a 27-yard pass from Austin Sumner to give the Jackrabbits the seven point advantage.

In the second quarter, Youngstown State scored when Kurt Hess found Christian Bryan for the first time in the game on a 51-yard completion.  The scoring drive took four plays and covered 75 yards.  South Dakota State managed to put up another touchdown before intermission when Sumner found Brandon Hubert with 16 ticks left on the clock.

Once play resumed, the Penguins came out looking like a different team. Jelani Berassa hauled in a 48-yard pass from Hess to tie the game at 21.  On the ensuing possession, Sumner made a bad read and found the Penguins Sam LB Davion Rogers who returned the pick 27 yards for a score and a 28-21 YSU lead.

In the final quarter, SDSU manufactured an 88 yard scoring drive in 14 plays.  The drive was capped off when Sumner threw his third TD of the day, this one a five-yarder to Aaron Rollin, to tie the game, 28-28.

The Penguins went to work in the fourth quarter of a tie game.  Hess led the offense on a nice drive in which the Penguins converted a fourth-and-two on SDSU’s 41 to keep the drive going.  The Penguins would settle for a field goal attempt by punter Nick Liste , not kicker David Brown, that was unsuccessful.  The 44-yard try sailed just to the right of the goalpost.

On the very next play, Sumner found Rollin with an out-and-up pump fake that froze Jimmy May.  Rollin caught the ball at about YSU’s 25 and trotted in giving the Jackrabbits a 35-28 lead.

YSU got the ball back with 5:55 left in the game.  The drive started on their own 45 yard line thanks to an excessive celebration penalty on South Dakota State’s touchdown, and the actual kickoff going out of bounds.  Cook rattled off 18 yards on the first play to get down to the SDSU 37.  A holding penalty against YSU’s Chris Elkins backed the Penguins up into a 2nd & 16 situation, and the Penguins would fail to convert the opportunity into points.

The Penguins got the ball back with 2:30 left in the game.  Hess, again, led a poised drive down the field, this one with no timeouts.  YSU got all the way to the Jackrabbits 17-yard line but could not convert a fourth-and-ten, losing the ball on downs.

Kurt Hess finished the game 18-34 for 243 yards, was picked off twice and had a couple of touchdowns.  Jamaine Cook finished with 107 rushing yards on 18 carries, he also caught four balls for 40 yards.  Teven Williams had 10 tackles, six solo, for the Penguin defense.

Andrew Johnson, another captain, commented on the loss.  “Words can’t explain it.  We started slow and we are a lot more talented than we were last year.  I can’t really explain it.  We go hard and try our best.”  Johnson finished the game with two sacks.

“We had them”, said Cook.  “We got in some third-and-long situations and Kurt had to try to come out and scramble around to try to make plays.  We have to keep things from falling apart.  As a captain, I am committed to doing that.”

For the Jackrabbits, Sumner was 22-35 for 345 yards.  Aaron Rollin finished with 155 yards on 8 catches.  Zach Zenner led the ground attack with 97 yards on 16 carries.

Eleven members of the 2011 Youngstown State softball team were named All-American Scholar-Athletes by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

The Youngstown State honorees include: Jordan Ingalls, Haley Thomas, Vicki Rumph, Sarah Gabel, Kristen Philen, Kim Klonowski, Sarah Ingalls, Kristina Rendle, Amanda Palmore, Samantha Snodgrass, and Courtney Ewing.

The award is given to any player submitted by a member coach who achieved a 3.50 grade point average or higher during the 2010-11 academic year.

Last week, YSU was recognized as a 2011 NFCA Top Ten All-Academic team ranking sixth with a 3.523 team grade-point average.

In other offseason news, Youngstown State Head Softball Coach Brian Campbell was enshrined into the Tiffin University Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2011.

Campbell, who was the head coach at Tiffin from 2001 is the most honored softball coach in Tiffin University history.

At Tiffin, Campbell won six coach-of-the-year honors over his eight-year career, leading the Dragons to two NAIA National Tournament appearances, two Region IX Championships, five American Mideast Conference Championships, and a peak NAIA ranking of 13^th in the nation.

He was twice named Independent Division II Coach of the Year while also landing the 2006 Region IX Coach-of-the-Year honors.

Campbell’s teams won 285 games, including an impressive 104-16 mark in conference play. He earned his Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Tiffin University.

*Photo Courtesy of Ron Stevens

The Chicago Steel guaranteed their fans a win Friday night at the Edge Ice Arena and those fans got one, just not from the hometown team. The Youngstown Phantoms got a pair of goals from center Austin Cangelosi and goaltender Matthew O’Connor turned away everything he faced en route to a 3-0 win.

The game also marked the first career regular season win for Head Coach Anthony Noreen.

“The guys who earned it were the guys in the locker room,” Noreen said. “The players bought in to what the coaches were selling and it’s really their victory.”

After digging themselves a hole early last week, the Phantoms struck first against Chicago. While short-handed, Cangelosi stole the puck off Steel defender Ryan Trentz’s stick and went streaking on goal for a breakaway. The Estero, Fla. native brought the puck from forehand to backhand before roofing it on goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom to give the Phantoms the lead with 2:07 remaining in the period.  It was Cangelosi’s second goal of the season, and second on the penalty kill.

“I’m unbelievably impressed with Austin as a player but I’m even more impressed with him as a person,” Noreen said. “The character he’s shown has earned him the success he’s had.”

The Phantoms would carry a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, but not after a line brawl with 15.7 seconds remaining that saw both Ryan Belonger and Ryan Lowney sent off for fighting. Belonger was tacked with an instigator call for his part in the fight and was ejected for the game.

Despite starting the period short-handed and spending most of it with a short bench, the Phantoms continued to pressure the Steel in the second. They peppered the defense on the forecheck and with1:24 remaining, Cangelosi lit the lamp for the second time after a great feed from Mike Ambrosia and new line mate Stephen Collins, who replaced Belonger on the right wing.

O’Connor continued his sterling play in the third period as the Phantoms and Steel traded chances scoring chances. Chicago pulled it’s netminder with a minute remaining but O’Connor stood tall and Alexander Dahl unselfishly set up Richad Zehnal for an empty-netter to ice it.

“Matt was phenomenal tonight but it was really team defense that won the game,” Noreen said. “Our forwards blocked shots and the ones that got through, Matty was there to stop them.”

Youngstown State has some proving to do this week.  In their last game, the Penguins dropped a contest at Indiana State, the first time that has ever happened.  The Penguins have had two weeks to sharpen up their fundamentals and get back into the confident mindset that was to propel this team to loftier goals this year.  YSU can pull off their own first if they can beat South Dakota State this Saturday.  If the Penguins can defeat the Jackrabbits, it would mark their first win since South Dakota State joined the conference in 2008.

“We learned our lesson”, said Coach Eric Wolford on the loss to Indiana State.  “You can never forget about the fundamentals.  When you are not as mature as you would want to be, you just go through the motions and run plays.  No good disciplined routes, no blocking fundamentals… it’s not an excuse, it is just part of maturing, and hopefully we grew up quick and learned our lesson.”

South Dakota State is looking to avoid their first five game losing streak since 2000.  They have had nightmares trying to run the ball, averaging a paltry 2.3 yards peer attempt.  They are having issues with turnovers, stopping the run, and had a key member, QB Thomas O’Brien quit the team two weeks ago.  O’Brien (below) threw a couple of touchdown passes against the Penguins last season.  The three-year starter has been replaced by redshirt freshman, Austin Sumner.

The Penguins offense has been effective in every game this season. Jamaine Cook has racked up 501 in four games.  Kurt Hess has a 9:2 touchdown to interception ratio and has been poised no matter what the situation is.  The defensive line seems to be getting better and the biggest question to be answered on defense is whether or not a freshman-dominant linebacking group and a very young, repatched secondary can respond to a little adversity.

Junior OT, D. J. Main, knows Saturday is a bigger challenge than the records may indicate.  “South Dakota State is a good team and their record is deceiving.  They are well-coached and we will have our hands full.  We have watched a lot of film and when you see a few repetitive things, you get a better idea of what they might do.”

Jackrabbits linebacker Dirk Kool thinks that his team is prepared.  “We looked at films of last years game against Youngstown State and we also watched their game against Indiana State.  From a preparation standpoint, we don’t see much to prepare for that we have not already seen from them.  We have a lot of respect for Youngstown State, and our motivation is just to go 1-0 every week.”

YSU Director of Football Operations, Dan Kopp (above), talked about the obstacles the Penguins have endured leading up to the South Dakota State game.  “We did not tackle or block well against Indiana State and you can not win football games without those fundamentals in place.  South Dakota State has had our number the last few years, so we have a huge task in front of us Saturday.  We can’t afford to give up long touchdown runs on the first play of the game, or for that matter, the first couple of series.  It will be imperative that we start fast.”

Kickoff for Saturday is set for 4 p.m.

Buffalo was in an unfamiliar role last weekend.  They were favored to win against a team they should beat.  Unfortunately, the Bills were handed a 23-20 setback by the Cincinnati Bengals.  The Bills were outscored 20-3 in the second half and never got their bearings on offense. Bills receiver Donald Jones is a former Youngstown State University standout and has been generous with his time to allow me a weekly interview segment focusing on the way he sees things.

“We realize that we are not going to win every game”, remarked Jones on the loss.  “In this league, you have to win the games that you are supposed to win.  I don’t feel like they won, I feel more like we lost, it was a game we should have won.”

Things will not be easy this weekend. Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles roll into Orchard Park for a 1 p.m. contest with the Bills.

“Defensively, they [Philadelphia] do a very good job covering”, said Jones. “However, they miss a lot of tackles in the secondary and with the group of receivers we have, we feel we can exploit that this week.  They have a good pass rush and really attack the ball.  We know that we will have to step it up on offense this weekend and look to fire on all cylinders.”

Jones’ father, Donald Sr., is making his debut this weekend in Orchard Park as well.  Senior is driving the 23-foot long truck that will carry the ‘Buffalo Soldiers’, a group of Junior’s friends and relatives.  The truck (below) should hit the tailgate around 8 a.m., so look for it and say hi to Mr. Jones and crew.

Jones also commented that it has been a pretty low-key week and that the honeymoon with most major media outlets is over, for now.

“We see that we can be beat.  We will have to come out more focused and block out all of the distractions”, said Jones.

Last week, Jones was targeted eight times, most on the team.  The reason Chan Gailey likes Jones so much is because he will stretch defenses, take pressure off of Stevie Johnson and free up TE Scott Chandler.  More importantly, RB Fred Jackson has more space to work with because Johnson and Jones can both stretch a defense to create more space.

Jones had three catches for 21 yards in the loss.  For the season, he has 14 receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown.  He is going to pop a 100-yard game, real soon.

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team opened practice in preparation for the 2011-12 season on Sunday evening in its first of 30 scheduled sessions prior to the season opener at West Virginia on Nov. 11.

Individual and small group sessions had been held for several weeks, but Sunday’s practice at Beeghly Center was the first session of considerable length with the entire team.

“We’re a lot further along this year than we were last year,” head coach Bob Boldon said. “We’re trying to get as much offensive movement and development in as we can, and defense will come in a couple of weeks.”

Boldon, who is in his second year with the program, has especially noticed an increase an intensity from a year ago.

“Our effort has been fantastic. Your biggest concern [at this time of year] is that your kids are working hard and that they’re learning. We’re doing both of those, and I’m happy from that standpoint.”

Boldon is welcoming newcomers Kelsea Fickiesen,  Ashley Lawson,  Devan Matkin and Melanie Poorman to the program, and he’ll also have the use of redshirt-freshman forward Heidi Schlegel, who missed the final 22 games of 2010-11 with a foot injury. Those five join seniors Tiera Jones, Kenya Middlebrooks, and Macey Nortey (above); junior all-league candidate Brandi Brown; and sophomores Liz Hornberger, Melissa Thompson, and Monica Touvelle.

Boldon inherited a program that had gone 0-30 the year prior to his arrival, and the Penguins improved well beyond their six-win increase. Most indicative was closing the scoring margin by 15.2 points from 2009-10 to 2010-11.  That was the second-best improvement in the country.  The Penguins finished last season by winning three of their final seven contests, and they had shots in the final 20 seconds in three of those losses that would have tied the game.

“They know what it takes to win games, and there’s an expectation of what’s to be done at practice to prepare to win games,” Boldon said. “They’re taking that preparation more seriously than they were a year ago.”

Boldon said the weight room report from the preseason lifting program came back with pleasing results, thanks in large part to a large portion of the team lifting on campus during the summer.

The Youngstown State volleyball team hit .279 as a team and had three players register at least 11 kills in a 3-1 win over Loyola at the Halas Sports Center.

The Penguins recorded their first Horizon League victory as well as their first in a true road contest. YSU had a season-high 11 aces, and the attack percentage was its second-best of the year.

Freshman middle blocker Shannon Watson (Zoarville, Ohio) had a career-high 14 kills and hit .619, and Missy Hundelt (St. Charles, Mo.) had 14 kills and 12 digs.  Jackie Carlisle (Hubbard, Ohio) added 11 kills, and Bri Kern posted five aces and 17 digs. Freshman setter Brianna Bartlett registered 41 assists and 10 digs in her first career start.

Youngstown State hit .423 in the opening set and got four kills from Hundelt en route to a 25-21 win. Three straight kills – two by Carlisle sandwiching one by Hundelt – put the Penguins ahead 14-7.  Loyola climbed to within 15-14 following back-to-back errors, and the Ramblers had the deficit to just one on four more occasions. The final time was 22-21, but YSU got a side out on a service error and closed out the match with a block by Johnson and Missy Hundelt and a ball-handling error.

Loyola broke open a close set by ending the second set on a 9-2 run to knot the match at 1-1. Purcell had nine kills in the set for Loyola.

YSU led by four three times in the early going of the third set, but the Penguins had to continue to fight to take a 2-1 lead. Loyola cut the lead to one six different times, including 23-22. Hundelt answered with a kill for a side out, and Alexis Egler (Clarkston, Mich.) closed out the set with a kill.

The Penguins had six aces in the fourth set, including two from Erika West (Painesville, Ohio) to start the set as YSU scored the first four points. Loyola scored the next two points, but YSU answered with another 4-0 run, which included an ace by Kern. A Watson kill made the score 14-3, and Loyola never cut the deficit to single digits again.

Youngstown State remains on the road to play at Green Bay tomorrow at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Lisa Neeld has been a busy woman lately.  She has stacked her appearances, started filming a reality show for television, continues to sell barbecue sauce, and is a full-time mother.  I became enamored with Neeld when I asked her ten baseball questions at a Scrappers game.  She played along, the good sport that she is, and had fun with a segment that many Playboy models would scoff away from.  A year later, I followed that up with ten boxing questions.  Same playful Lisa, same comical approach, same demeanor.

Neeld is excited about her new reality show, simply called Lisa Neeld: VIP Style.  The show airs at 6:30 in the morning on the WB Network every Thursday.  It is commercial-free and the interview which I conducted will be featured on one of the upcoming episodes, so set your DVR, it is fun to watch.

Having never interviewed a Playboy model before, I was cautious, but brought my highest line of questioning.  Lisa, as always, was very accommodating and honest.  I have a lot of respect for her because of the way she is going about life without the stereotypical priss label. All too many times, albeit an athlete or a musician with some level of fame, certain media outlets are snubbed because a celebrity feels too “big” to be a part of anything less than TMZ or a major publication.

Paneech: Tell me about the reality show.

Neeld: I was doing small reality clips for 93.3, The Wolf, and all of a sudden we got with some friends who would film and edit.  My producer, Mike Kolovich, signed on with us to do it.  It airs every Thursday morning at 6:30 on the CW Network.  It showcases the lifestyle I lead with all of the different roles in comparison to businesswomen and moms.  Things that people don’t necessarily think of associating with me.

Paneech: You were in Playboy.  How does that work with two children?  Is that something you will have to tell them?

Neeld: My children already know.  My first issue came out in 2008 and then I was on the cover in 2010.  When the first issue came out, my son was ten.  We didn’t let him see the magazine, but we did tell him.  I would rather he hear about it from me rather than kids at school who may have heard it from their parents.  I didn’t want to put him in a bad light because I was proud of it.  Playboy is very classy and to be chosen by them, and later land a cover is honorable, but I would never want my children to think that I did something wrong. My daughter is only eight, and when she is old enough, she will know from me.  My children know everything that I do and there is nothing to hide.

Paneech: How about other family members?  Did they chastise you because of your decision?

Neeld: Actually, I have no family.  My mom passed away five years ago.  She raised me as a single parent and I have not had to deal with that issue.  She would have been proud of me.  The whole time I was growing up, she had me in dance line, pageantry, dancing lessons, and modeling.  She would have been very proud and it is sad that she is not able to see the things that I have accomplished like this show.

Paneech: How much charity work do you do?  Also, do you feel obligated to do charitable work, or is it something you enjoy?

Neeld: I have a personal charity that I work with.  I work with Someplace Safe, a charity that works toward the awareness and prevention of domestic violence, which is pretty important to me.  I always try to arrange something that will benefit them.  We have had bowling nights, a blizzard thing at Dairy Queen, sold cut-out hearts, and many other things.  I feel it is a charity which is often overlooked because victims are afraid to speak up.

Paneech: Lets talk about Hugh Hefner.  This guy is like 90 years old, lands beautiful 21 year-old girlfriends, is loaded, and seems unhappy.  At the same time, he seems humble and grounded.  What have your experiences around him been like?

Neeld: I have met him several times at the Playboy Mansion and he is very down to earth.  He is a nice and sweet guy and actually cares about the younger girls.  There are a lot of girls who come through that have had issues or problems and he is actually there offering his support and helping them.  He is an all-around great guy.  I feel like he sometimes gets a bad rap, but he is an amazing person.

Paneech: You seem busier these days than you were two years ago.  Do you have any spare time?

Neeld: I hang out with my children.  We kind of like to stay at home.  I am always out so much and I am not the best cook in the world, I’m not going to lie, so we prefer to hang out and enjoy our time together.  Personally, when I have spare time, I like to run.  I like to work out, box, run – it’s not hyper it’s high energy (laughs).  I would probably want to go to a spa, I guess.  Well actually, the perfect night to me is just staying at home and watching TV.  I don’t have to be “dolled up”, worrying about appearances, so it is nice to just chill out.  I like a good movie, but I am not into the price of popcorn though.

Paneech: A lot of models who have posed for Playboy have been approached to appear in adult movies.  Have you been bothered for that yet?

Neeld: Yeah…  Yeah, I was contacted about a year ago by a competitor of Playboy to do a shoot and we declined.  If it is something I am asked to do that I feel I would be embarrassed telling my son about, then I will not do it.  I won’t cross a line that would potentially put my child in an embarrassing situation.  If people opt to do that stuff, than that is their option, but I will not cross that line.  It is one thing to do appearances and have fun, but nothing too risque.

Paneech: What is with the barbecue sauce?  How did that start and how are sales?

Neeld: The barbecue sauce came about when my friend Guy Hughes, of Guy’s Barbecue, had all of his products lined up at a press conference.  I picked up one of the bottles and jokingly said, ‘Why don’t you make me a sauce and put my name on it.  I can call it Saucy Housewife’.  Next thing you know, we have attorneys checking copyright facts and it wasn’t taken, so a month later it is in production at Summer Garden on McClurg Road and going into a production run of 1,200 cases or some crazy amount.  The Scrappers made it the exclusive barbecue sauce of the stadium and they made pulled pork this season for the first time.  The label on it shows a little too much cleavage so we couldn’t market it at family grocery-type stores.

Paneech: When does all of this get tiring?

Neeld: Never.  I have my days when I want to stay home in my sweatpants and cuddle up with my kids.  However, it is my job.  There are days when I am sure you don’t want to go to work and do your job.  I love what I do and I appreciate people’s support and I never take that for granted.  No matter how many times, or which venue, I get excited that people are making the effort to come and see me, it is pretty flattering.

Paneech: You have barbecue sauce, security, a reality show, a career you love, but the one thing you don’t seem to have is an agent.

Neeld: At this point, I do not have an agent.  I have contacts in California who handle some of the bigger publications and things like that.  I pretty much handle everything else on my own, not necessarily by choice, but because there is too much of the legwork that I have already taken care of and it is just easier for me to handle it myself rather than explaining everything to a third person.  The third person can easily get things twisted.  As long as I can continue to handle it myself, I will.

Paneech: Tomorrow is a school day, your kids will probably be in school.  How will you spend your day?

Neeld: We start off at six.  My son gets his bus at seven, and my daughter goes by eight, so I am in ‘mommy’ role until then.  After that, I immediately get with my trainer and we will run.  Some days it is five miles, other days ten.  The way I look at it, it is job maintenance plus you always feel better after that anyway.  After that, I go right into making business calls and doing some networking.  It is not a typical day because things always change.

Paneech: If I rub this cup of lemonade you are drinking and a genie comes out and says you can have any three wishes, what would they be?

Neeld: Firstly, I would always wish that my children are safe and that nothing bad will happen to them.  Secondly, I would wish to remain happy, not knowing what that will entail over the next couple of years.  Third, I would say I want to be able to adjust to anything. No matter what happens, I would also want a Jeep for my friend, a red Jeep.

Neeld will be coming to a function you may be attending soon, make an effort to meet her, she is definitely not who you would think, in a good way.