Archive for November, 2011

Performance in a hostile environment against an angry team usually does not bode well for a team when they are mediocre, at best.  The biggest thing that Youngstown State (5-4, 3-3) proved in their 21-17 loss is that they are anything but mediocre.  Northern Iowa continued their dominance of the Penguins winning their eleventh straight meeting between the two teams on Saturday.  This one could have gone either way though, and the difference in this game was probably experience.

Imagine you have a garden.  In that garden are many different vegetables that bloom to full maturity over a period of time.  The bulbs are finally starting to open and the harvest is just getting ready to begin for Eric Wolford.  No starting player on offense was a senior, that means that EVERYBODY comes back next year.  Defensively, recruiting should fill a few holes, but there are many bright spots that have started to show signs of excellence, dramatic differences.

Northern Iowa (7-2, 6-1) was put in an early hole as Youngstown State marched into the red zone on their opening drive.  For the first time this season, they attempted, and made, a field goal, and David Brown finally got his name in the scoring column.  Northern Iowa answered on their first drive when Jared Lanpher, filling in for injured Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of The Year,  Tirrell Rennie, found Jarred Herring on a 32-yard strike.

The Penguins (5-4, 3-3) reclaimed the lead with 7:08 left in the first half when Jamaine Cook plunged into the end zone on a 1-yard dive.  Cook ran hard and sometimes made something out of nothing in the loss.  The 10-7 Penguins lead was short-lived,  however.  The Panthers used only two plays to go 61 yards and Lanpher found Terrell Sinkfield from 31 yards away.  The score came with just six seconds left in the first half and surely was a bad touchdown to give in that short of a time span for the Penguins.  UNI held a 14-10 halftime lead.

In the second half, the defense stepped up to the plate and really did a good job limiting the Panthers to a whole third quarter of three-and-outs.  YSU did not fare much better in the scoreless third, but was getting an edge in field position.

In the fourth quarter, Hess found Will Shaw, a converted linebacker turned tight end, on a corner route for his first career score.  Shaw caught the ball at about the UNI nine-yard line, and tiptoed the line to stay inbounds and get in for the points.  The touchdown and PAT gave the Penguins a 17-14 lead.  The stage would then be set for Northern Iowa’s game-winning David Johnson 1-yard run to give the Panthers the 21-17 lead, which they would hold on to for their seventh win.  Johnson’s heroics were the result of a fourth-and-goal gamble by NIU Coach Mark Farley, and the big running back looked stuffed at first, but his second effort got him over the plane.

Youngstown State got 100% effort against a great team.  Kurt Hess was 17-34 for 175 yards with a touchdown and a pick.  Cook finished the game with 90 yards on 30 carries against one of the best defenses in the country.

Lanpher, proving effective for the injured Rennie, finished 16-28 for 238 yards and a pair of throwing scores to mark a successful first career start.  Johnson finished the game with 47 yards rushing, a higher than usual total for the pass-happy Panthers.

The Penguins will be back in another hostile environment next week, the Fargo Dome, to face the #1 ranked FCS team in the country, North Dakota State.

** All Photos courtesy of YSU Athletics / Ron Stevens.

Chris Hazimihalis is now under the watchful eye of Emanuel Steward.  The lightweight prospect from Campbell, Ohio holds a 7-0 record with six knockouts and will be fighting on November 23rd in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Hazimihalis has been working with Steward in Detroit since September to prepare for his upcoming fight.  Steward is in the Boxing Hall of Fame for his work as a trainer and his recent attraction to Hazimihalis was coincidental.

“Chris KO’d a local Detroit fighter on a show in July and he caught my eye and I knew I wanted to work with him,” said Steward. “He has good power and speed that makes for a great future ahead of him.”

Promoter Mike Acri also recognizes the potential that Hazimihalis has shown.  “Chris has been getting great sparring and is in tremendous shape as he prepares for his November 23rd fight.”

Steward will be a valuable asset to the career development of the undefeated Hazimihalis.  His wisdom and eye for potential are recognized worldwide and the Hazimihalis has to be overjoyed with the news.

More on Hazimihalis in the very near future.

Donald Jones has missed a couple of Buffalo Bills games with a leg injury.  He has been working hard trying to get back, but doubts he will be ready to go when his team takes on the New York Jets in a huge game for both teams.  Jones can be activated for the game, but is unsure just how much he will get to play as he pushes himself to a full recovery.

“The recovery process is going well”, said Jones. “I feel like I am pretty well ahead of schedule and was supposed to miss six-to-eight weeks.  It hasn’t even been four weeks yet and I feel like I am getting pretty close to returning to the field.”

The Bills can’t blink as their productive offense takes on the NFL’s #1-ranked defense in the Jets.

“They have a really good secondary with two all-pro cornerbacks.  Darrelle Rivas is the best corner in the league, and the defense produces turnovers.  We have to get off the ball because they like to jam the receivers at the line, and we expect to see a lot of blitzing.  They have some crazy schemes on defense and all of the pressure they create causes quarterbacks to throw interceptions.”

The game has a lot of meaning to Jones because he worked out with some of the current Jets roster in the offseason.  Brad Smith, of Youngstown Chaney High School fame, was a Jet and also wants to win in the worst way this weekend.  Personal reasons aside, it is a game that will drastically alter the standings, either way.

“They are a divisional opponent”, noted Jones.  “If we get the win we will be two games ahead of them and if we lose they will have tied us for first place.”

As Jones inches closer to his return, it should be noted that the Bills defense has stepped it up as the offense has slowed in the last couple of games.  Once Jones returns, it will open things up for Chan Gailey‘s offense because #19 is developing a good reputation in football circles as a field stretcher.  This team is good, and they are for real.

Youngstown State will face their toughest test of the Eric Wolford Era this Saturday when they travel to face a very talented Northern Iowa team.  The Panthers had a showdown with North Dakota State last week in a matchup of conference unbeatens, but came out on the short end of the stick, 27-19, and may have lost their best weapon on offense in the process.  Wolford knows that his team has to put their best effort on the field for four quarters to win a game against a team like Mark Farley‘s Panthers.

Tirrell Rennie (#10, above), as of this writing on Thursday night, is still listed as questionable.  I doubt Rennie is playing because when he got hurt at the start of the fourth quarter in last week’s game, he was unable to put any weight on his injured leg.  In a game that important, Rennie would limp around and play through pain unless he was too injured to do so.  My gut instinct is that Farley is just trying to keep everybody off-balance and guessing on the status of his quarterback, last year’s Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of The Year.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, this is a very good team, showing tremendous balance on both sides of the ball.  Senior LJ Fort is second in the nation in tackles and made 15 of them last week.  Fort is a good linebacker because of the stunts that Northern Iowa runs.  Fort would also be the first to credit players like Ben Boothby, a three-technique down lineman, for keeping blockers off of him and allowing the playmaker to get to the ball.  The Panthers defense ranks fourth nationally and gives up an average of less than ten points per game against conference opponents.

Youngstown State is currently ranked second in the nation in offense, averaging about 40 points per game.  While the skeptics would argue that blowout wins against Valpairaiso and Saint Francis are the only reason that average is so high, keep in mind that YSU only put up six against Michigan State, and that works against a 40-point average.

Kurt Hess is loaded with weapons and has done a fantastic job of moving the ball around. Jamaine Cook is currently third in rushing yards nationally and he has skipped about five quarters due to decided outcomes.  The offensive line knows that the Panthers defense is a handful, but can rise to the challenge.

“It starts with our line”, said Hess, who has been praising the big men all year.  “They have to communicate and pick up all of the twists and stunts that make their defense so dangerous.  I think they are smart enough to handle the assignments.”

Hess also commented on what this game means to his team.  “This is the biggest game for me since I have been here.  In order to make the run to the playoffs, I said three weeks ago that we would need six, and we got three of them so far.  We must play 60 minutes against Northern Iowa, and I enjoy playing in that kind of loud environment.  If we do what we are capable of and play that full 60 minutes, we are believing that we can do something really special.”

The YSU offense facing off against the Northern Iowa defense is a matchup made in heaven.  Something has to give, and it will come down to who wants it more.  The X-Factor in this contest will be the youthful Penguins defense.  Leaders have emerged in the last three weeks and everybody seems to be playing better than the first four weeks of the season.  Aronde Stanton has been a beast lately and Teven Williams seems to be emerging as a big-time linebacker.

The past is something that cannot get into the young minds of the YSU players.  UNI has defeated the Penguins ten times in a row, the longest active streak in the league.  The Panthers lead the all-time series 19-6, including last season’s 34-30 win over the upset-minded Penguins.  The last time YSU won at Cedar Falls was in 1999.

I don’t think the Penguins players and coaches care too much about past statistics and records.  Their focus is squarely on the 2011 Northern Iowa team that they face Saturday, period.  If Rennie is unable to play, it does not guarantee anything for YSU, but it definitely takes a dual-threat all-star out of the mix and enhances the upstart Penguins odds of winning this war.

Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. (EST) and the game will be televised on the CBWB Network.

The United States Hockey League announced its weekly awards on Monday and a pair of Youngstown Phantoms took two of the three accolades. Center Dylan Margonari (above) was named CCM Offensive Player of the Week and defenseman Jordan Young was named CCM Defensive Player of the Week for their efforts in a pair of decisive wins over the Tri-CityStorm and the Omaha Lancers.

This is the first time either Margonari or Young has captured the league’s weekly honors and the second time this season a Phantoms player has earned one. Earlier this season, Matthew O’Connor was named the Reebok Goaltender of the Week after shutting out the Chicago Steel.

Margonari, a Minnesota State – Mankato commit, racked up four goals over the weekend as the Phantoms recorded the first wins over Tri-City and Omaha in franchise history. The Greensburg, Pa., native scored the game-winning goal in the 5-1 win over Tri-City Friday and netted a hat trick to propel the Phantoms to a 5-2 victory over the Lancers on Saturday.

Young (above) recorded the first goal of his USHL career Friday night against the Storm. The following night in Omaha he saw increased ice time with Kevin Liss out of the lineup and set up Margonari’s third goal of the game. The Cave Creek, Ariz., native was + 2 on the evening and is currently tied for fourth among all USHL defensemen with a + 7 rating this season.

“He’s very good offensively, but where Jordan has really picked his game up is in the defensive end,” Noreen said. “He has blocked a bunch of shots and been a very good penalty killer for us to go along with running a power play and being an offensive threat every time he’s on the ice.”

The Phantoms travel to Muskegon, Mich., to take on the Lumberjacks on Friday before returning to the Covelli Center, where they are undefeated this season, to host the Indiana Ice on Saturday.

Youngstown State freshman Jade Flory (above) was named to the 2011 Horizon League All-Newcomer Team, the league announced on Monday.

Flory, who is the second straight Youngstown State player to earn all-newcomer team laurels, led the Penguins with seven goals and 17 points scored and tied for the team lead with three assists.  She also ranked second in the league in goals per game (0.41); tied for second with seven goals; fourth in points (17), points per game (1.00), shots (48) and shots per game (2.82).

Flory also led all newcomers with seven goals, scored more goals than 20 of the 22 players on the all-league teams and scored more total points than 19 of the 22 members of the all-league teams.  She is the Brandi Brown of YSU Soccer.