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Oct. 7, 2000
Football: Penguins Hold Off Illinois State, 14-12
Normal, Ill. -- The No. 2 Youngstown State
football team relied on its defense
to come up with the big stops and
its offense to score two important
touchdowns as the Penguins earned a
hard-fought 14-12 win at Illinois
State on Saturday in front of a
crowd of 11,938 fans at Hancock
Stadium.
The YSU defense forced a season-high six turnovers,
including four interceptions, and
stuffed the Redbirds (1-4) on a
fourth-and-inches play with 3:17
remaining in the fourth quarter to
preserve the 14-12 win and improve
to 5-0 on the year and 2-0 in the
Gateway Football Conference.
Two of the six turnovers forced by the YSU defense
helped set up touchdowns for the
Penguin offense. In the first
quarter, Tim Johnson recovered a
Kevin Glenn fumble at midfield.
Following the recovery, YSU
quarterback Colby Street, who
started in place of Jeff Ryan,
engineered an 11-play 50-yard drive
that put the Penguins ahead 7-0.
Street connected on a nine-yard
touchdown pass to John Schumacher
with 2:59 left in the first quarter
giving them the lead.
The second score was set up when Guy Mazard stripped
the ball from Walter James and Bruce
Hightower pounced on it at the ISU
one-yard line. Trailing 12-7, Eric
Lockhart scored on one-yard plunge
with 10:48 left in the third to give
YSU a 14-12 lead.
From there, the defense came up with two interceptions and
stuffed Glenn in his attempt on a
potential game-winning drive. The
Redbirds moved the ball to the
Penguins’30 yard-line when on third
down and one, James was tackled by
Bob Sivik and Justin Dellarose for
no gain. On fourth and about three
inches with 3:17 left, Glenn tried a
quarterback sneak, but was stuffed
by the interior of the line for no
gain.
Too close out the game, YSU picked up two first downs,
including a 10-yard run by Ryan on a
third and nine to run out the clock
and earn its eight straight road
win.
In the second half, the Redbirds turned the ball over
twice in the first five minutes.
Chris Conwell intercepted a Glenn
pass and returned it to the ISU 29.
However, five plays later, Ryan was
intercepted at the Redbird one by
Ryan Szokola. On third down at from
the five, Glenn’s handoff to James
was bobbled and Bruce Hightower fell
on the ball at the one-yard line.
On the next play, Lockhart scored from a yard out as the
Penguins regained the lead 14-12,
with 10:48 remaining in the third
quarter.
Two Jake Strader field goals in the second quarter helped
give the Redbirds a 12-7 halftime
edge. Starder made field goals of 32
and 36 yards as ISU scored the final
12 points of the half after the
Penguins took a 7-0 lead.
The Redbirds took the lead, 9-7, on a 36-yard field goal by
Strader with 3:33 left before the
half. After a 41-yard Troy Lefever
punt into the wind, ISU took over at
their 43. On the first play of the
drive, James busted throw the middle
for 36 yards down to the Youngstown
State 21.
Illinois State crept to within 7-6 when James scored on
a six-yard run. YSU held onto the
lead when Strader missed the
extra-point attempt.
YSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead when Street connected with John
Schumacher on a nine-yard touchdown
pass with 2:59 remaining in the
first quarter. The play capped an
11-play 50-yard drive following Tim
Johnson’s fumble recovery.
Street started the game for Ryan who was suffering from an
injury to his right wrist. Ryan, who
suffered the injury in the win over
Southwest Missouri State and did not
practice much during the week, came
on the second quarter for Street.
YSU returns to Stambaugh Stadium for its first home game in
35 days when the Penguins play host
to Northern Iowa (3-2, 1-1). Kickoff
is set for 4 p.m. |
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