When Eric Wolford brought in the new recruits this past offseason, there were more defensive players than offensive.  Wolford explained in March that he wanted to bring in players to add depth and stability to his defense to finish games.  YSU failed to finish games last season after holding the lead in all eleven contests, ultimately losing their last seven, including a crippling defeat at Illinois State, by a score of 40-38.  Saturday, the defense came up big in the fourth quarter and shut the door on the explosive Redbirds offense en route to a 34-27 Penguins win.

Kurt Hess had a big day for the Penguins, tying a school record for touchdown passes in a game with four.  The offense sputtered a bit in the second half, but the defense did what it could not do last season, closed the door on the opponent at the most crucial juncture of the contest, preserving a victory in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams.

“It was good to get the win and go 1-0 in the conference”, declared Wolford.  “We had our struggles.  We came out and started well on offense, but the most encouraging thing I saw today was the defense stepping up and securing the win.”

The Penguins took the opening kickoff and got on the board first when Hess found Christian Bryan over the middle for a 25-yard touchdown to put the Penguins ahead 7-0.  Illinois State roared back when veteran signal caller Matt Brown marched the Redbirds into the end zone, hitting Tyrone Walker from twelve yards out.  The ensuing extra point was blocked, and the Penguins thanks to a solid play on special teams, had a 7-6 lead.

YSU would find paydirt again right before the first quarter ended as Hess found Kevin Watts for a ten yard strike.  After the YSU defense stuffed the Redbirds, Hess maneuvered the offense 76 yards in 11 plays, capping off the drive with a one-yard sneak off right guard to put the Penguins in front, 21-6.

Brown would get Illinois State closer when he connected with Matt Younger from five yards (below) to cut the Penguin lead to 20-13.  Not to give ground, YSU engineered another solid scoring drive against the highly touted Redbirds defense.  Hess would this time find Andre Barboza in the corner for a 20-yard strike to put the Penguins comfortably ahead, 28-13 heading to intermission.

In the second half, Illinois State got on the board to cut the YSU lead to 28-20.  Ashton Leggett plunged in from a yard out with 4:58 left in the third quarter for the Redbirds.

Youngstown State again rose to the challenge when Hess hit Barbosa, this time for a 44-yard connection.  David Brown‘s PAT attempt was blocked, and the Penguins had a solid 34-20 lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, Brown threw his third touchdown, this time a seven-yarder to Marvon Sanders, to cut the lead to 34-27.

The next few possessions were dominated by great defensive play from both teams.  Youngstown State really did a great job down the stretch of stuffing the Redbirds when they had to.  With the offense sputtering, Hess found Barboza for a 35-yard completion on a third-and-eight that would preserve the win for the Penguins.

Hess commented on that crucial pass that let the air out of the Redbirds balloon.  “It was a gutsy call.  We decided to take a shot at it, and it ended up being a good play to finish off the game with.”

Wolford further elaborated on the big pass play that cemented the win.  “They were jamming the box figuring we would run the ball to force them to use their last timeout.  We figured we might as well take a shot and the worst case scenario would be that the clock would stop on an incompletion.  Kurt threw a nice ball and it worked well for us.”

For the Penguins (2-1, 1-0), Hess finished the game 21-29 for 293 yards and a school record-tying effort of four touchdowns.  He was only sacked one time and the Penguins offensive line did a nice job keeping preseason All-American DT Eric Brunner away.  Cook had 30 carries for 122 yards, and Watts and Christian Bryan (above) both caught five balls for 68 and 64 yards respectively.  Barboza had three catches, two for scores, and finished with 74 yards.

Illinois State (1-2, 0-1) has a good team, they are going to win conference games and this was no pushover.  Brown finished his day 16-26 for 155 yards and 3 TD’s.  Sanders had six catches for 48 yards, and Leggett paced the running backs with 129 yards on 26 carries.

Youngstown State travels to Indiana State next Saturday.  The Penguins opened last season’s conference play with a big win at home over Southern Illinois, but failed to win the rest of the season.  This team can take steps forward with a good road win.

“We have to win road games”, insisted Wolford.  “It is tough to travel for six or seven hours to most of the places we have to go and win.  The goal is to go 1-0 every week and we will celebrate this win until tomorrow when we will focus on Indiana State.  Illinois State is a great team.  They had a top offense coming back and they are a well-coached group of talented recruits.  They have a great university and it is a great place.”

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