Nov. 2, 2000
Penguins Play Host to Hofstra In Matchup of Top Ten Teams
   The No. 5/5 (Coaches/SportsNetwork) Youngstown State Penguins play a key non-conference battle on Saturday against No. 8/8 Hofstra (7-2). Kickoff is set for 12:07 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
   The Penguins are coming off one of their most impressive performances of the season beating Indiana State 42-7. The YSU offense had its best showing of the year with 511 total yards and scoring a season-high 42 points. Hofstra enters the game after coming from behind to beat Cal Poly 33-30.
   Youngstown State, 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Gateway Football Conference, is 3-0 in non-league games this year with wins over Edinboro, Slippery Rock and Kent State. Last Saturday, the YSU offense exploded against Indiana State. YSU jumped out to 14-0 first quarter lead and led 28-0 at halftime. Quarterbacks Jeff Ryan and Colby Street completed all 13 of their passes attempts in the game for 234 yards. Josiah Doby had 110 yards on 10 carries and score a touchdown. P.J. Mays had two rushing scores.
   Hofstra has been successful on the road this season posting a 4-1 mark. The Pride have wins at Montana, Maine, Massachusetts and Cal Poly. Their lone road defeat was a five-point loss at Portland State. Hofstra brings a high-scoring offense to Youngstown. In the past six games, the Pride have scored more than 30 points and as a unit, the offense averages 429.4 yards per game.
   All-time against Hofstra the Penguins are 2-0 winning both meetings by a combined 16 points.
   The contest is the second of three straight home games for YSU. On Saturday, Nov. 11, the Penguins close out their home regular-season schedule against Southern Illinois. YSU has won 11 of its 12 home games since the beginning of the 1999 season.

Last Time Out: Youngstown State 42, Indiana State 7
   • The Penguins turned up the offense against Indiana State scoring a season-high 42 points and amassing 511 yards of total offense in a 42-7 win. YSU scored on its first possession of the game when P.J. Mays scored on a two-yard run. On their next drive, Jeff Ryan connected with Sean Guerriero on a 30-yard touchdown strike to put the Penguins in front 14-0. In the second quarter, YSU extended its lead to 21-0 on a 15-yard pass from Ryan to Brandon Pedraza. Before the end of the half, Colby Street engineered a seven-play 60-yard drive that Mays capped with a one-yard run with just over a minute left. In the third, Josiah Doby scored from nine yards to increase the advantage to 35-0. Indiana State avoided the shut out when Jared Sessum scored in the fourth. YSU added one more score on touchdown run by Street.
   • YSU quarterback’s Jeff Ryan and Colby Street combined to complete all 13 of their passing attempts in the game. Ryan was 10-of-10 and Street finished the contest 3-of-3. It is believed to be the first game in school history in which YSU completed all of its passing attempts. Ryan set a school record by going 10-for-10 in the game.
   • Josiah Doby had his best game of the season rushing for 110 yards on 10 carries. Doby had a career-best 64-yard rush, which is YSU’s longest play of the season. Doby had a touchdown and fellow tailback P.J. Mays had the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
   • Team captains for the game were senior tailback Eric Lockhart, senior free safety Fon Nanji and senior cornerback Ed Blizzard.
   • The Penguin offense had season highs with 511 total yards, 42 points, 277 yards rushing, four rushing touchdowns, 234 yards passing and 7.7 yards per play.

Breakdown of the Hofstra Flying Dutchman
   The Pride have one of the most explosive offenses in the country and are ranked 18th in the nation in scoring offense scoring more than 33 points per game. The Pride have won some track-meet games this season beating Maine 51-30 with 28 fourth-quarter points, Massachusetts 51-36, Elon 38-27 and suffered a 40-35 defeat at Portland State. In six consecutive games, the Pride have scored more than 30 points.
   While the Pride offense has sizzled, the defense has allowed its share of points as well. Hofstra has allowed an opponent to score more than 27 points, six times. The Fighting Dutchman average 429.4 yards per game, but allow 427.7 yards to their opponents.
   Making the offense go is quarterback Rocky Butler. Butler has thrown for 1,830 yards to average 229.8 yards a game. He has 14 throwing touchdowns to go along with 10 rushing scores. He has run for 356 yards this season while directing the offense. In the backfield with Butler is running back Trevor Dimmie. Dimmie, who has 986 yards rushing on the season, is coming off a 235-yard 32-attempt performance against Cal Poly.
   The receivers have been busy catching 169 passes this season. Charlie Adams leads the way with 53 receptions for 878 yards and eight touchdowns. Of the Pride’s top four receivers, each has a reception of more than 55 yards.
   On defense, Sam Alosi has a team-best 76 tackles and in the secondary Doug Shanahan has six interceptions and nine pass breakups.
   Hofstra is coached by Joe Gardi who in his 11th year at the school owns an 88-31-2 record.

All-Time Series Against Hofstra
   The Penguins have won both meetings against Hofstra by a combined score of 16 points. YSU won at Hampstead, N.Y., in 1996 14-3 and beat the Pride 27-22 at Stambaugh Stadium in 1997.
   Last Meeting: The Penguins didn’t grab the lead until less than four minutes remain coming back to beat Hofstra 27-22 on Sept. 27, 1997. Hofstra scored first on a 41-yard pass from Giovanni Carmazzi to Bryan Kish in the first quarter. YSU tied the game at seven on an Adrian Brown touchdown run in the second. In the third, Hofstra went ahead by seven on another Carmazzi touchdown pass. A field goal left the Penguins down 17-7 before Jake Andreadis 11-yard touchdown run cut the deficit to three. After another Hofstra field goal, YSU went ahead 21-20 on a five-yard touchdown run by Demond Tidwell. Adrian Brown scored on a four-yard run with 1:32 left to seal the win. Tidwell completed 11 passes for 175 yards and Andreadis ran for 99 yards. YSU had 419 yards of total offense in the game.

Jeff Ryan Eclipses 5,000-Yard Career Mark
   Junior quaterback Jeff Ryan is one of just six players in school history to accumulate more than 5,000 total offensive yards in his career. It took Ryan only 29 games to accomplish the feat when he went over 5,000 yards against Kent State on Sept. 16.
   The only other players to gain more than 5,000 yards of total offense in their YSU careers are Mark Brungard (6,932 yards), Trenton Lykes (6,846), Ray Isaac (6,043), Cliff Stoudt (5,439) and Keith Snoddy (5,430). Ryan ranks fourth in school history with 5,784 total yards.
   Ryan has been sharp this season completing 56.1 percent of his passing attempts. He has thrown nine touchdown passes and just four interceptions. Last Saturday against Indiana State, he was perfect completing all 10 passing attempts for 129 yards and two touchdowns. It was his fourth multi-touchdown pass game this season. Against Northern Iowa he engineered his third straight come-from-behind victory. Against the Panthers he threw for a season-high 179 yards. At Illinois State, Ryan did not start, but came on to complete three passes and rush for a season-high 49 yards in the win. At Southwest Missouri State, Ryan completed 9-of-15 passes for 120 yards. At Kent State, Ryan completed 10-of-15 passes and had two touchdown passes and two touchdown runs. Against Edinboro, Ryan threw for 115 yards completing 10 passes and had two touchdowns.

Tri-Tailback System Keeps Lockhart, Mays, Doby Involved
   This year, three players have teamed up to provide balance to the Youngstown State rushing attack. Senior Eric Lockhart and sophomores P.J. Mays and Josiah Doby have given the Penguins a three-back attack.
   Against Edinboro, Lockhart had 14 carries for 76 yards, Mays had 12 rushes for 64 yards and Doby had 14 attempts for 55 yards. Together the three runners combined for 195 yards on 40 carries.
   Against Slippery Rock, Mays had the fewest carries, but the most yards, helped by runs of 25 and 42 yards. Lockhart earned the starting nod and had 13 carries for 40 yards. Doby also had 13 carries rushing for 41 yards. Mays and Doby each added touchdown runs.
   At Kent State, the three combined for 86 yards on 34 carries against a stingy defense.
   In conference action, Lockhart has 136 yards on 41 carries and has two rushing touchdowns. Doby has rushed for 244 yards on 46 attempts and has two scores. Mays leads the team with 377 yards on 84 rushes and four touchdowns. He is averaging 75.4 yards per game in the five Gateway Conference games. Mays had a 100-yard outing against Western Illinois and Doby rushed for 110 yards against Indiana State.

Mintze Making Key Receptions for Penguins
   Junior wide receiver Eugene Mintze has been the go-to man for Youngstown State the past three games. Mintze (Palm Beach, Fla.) has 14 receptions for 217 yards after posting just three catches in the first five games.
   Against Indiana State on Saturday, he had five catches for a career-high 95 yards. The 95 yards was a season-high for YSU receivers. At Western Illinois, Mintze again caught five balls for 40 yards. He burst on the scene in the Penguins comeback win over Northern Iowa. Mintze had four receptions for 82 yards in the 28-24 win, including a key catch on fourth and 17 to keep the game winning drive alive. Of Mintze’s 14 catches the last three games, nine have been for the necessary first-down yardage.
   He had a career-long reception of 48 yards from Colby Street in the second quarter against Indiana State.