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Nov. 9, 2002
Football: Penguins Solid In Final Road Game Win at Illinois State
Normal, Ill. -- The
Youngstown State football team used
a complete effort to beat Illinois
State 24-17 on Saturday at Hancock
Stadium on a windy Saturday
afternoon. With the win, YSU
finished 4-3 in the Gateway and
improves to 6-4 overall securing a
winning record for a
school-record-tying seventh
consecutive season.
Senior tailback P.J. Mays scored two touchdowns totaling 146
yards on a season-high 32 carries.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron
Marshall completed 8-of-13 passes
for 108 yards, including an
impressive 34-yard toss to Jerald
Burley in the third quarter. The YSU
defense forced two turnovers on
interceptions by senior Matt
Mechling -- who intercepted the
first pass of his YSU career -- and
senior Anthony Barone -- who had his
first pick of the year.
Special teams got in the act as well with Jake Stewart
kicking a 42-yard field goal, a
35-yard extra point and the kickoff
coverage team recovered a live ball
on a kickoff to set up the winning
score.
Illinois State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter
taking advantage of a 20 miles per
hour wind. Stephen Carroll booted a
56-yard field setting a Hancock
Stadium record.
In the second quarter, the Redbirds (5-5 and 3-3) extended
their lead to 10-0 on a three-yard
run by Sha-ron Edwards into the wind
capping an 11-play 80-yard march.
But YSU came back as Mays scored the first of his two
touchdowns on a four-yard jaunt with
6:38 left in the period. With three
seconds remaining, Stewart kicked a
42-yard field goal tying the contest
after the first 30 minutes.
ISU again grabbed the lead on its initial possession of the
half on a five-yard run by Quincy
Washington, but against the wind the
Penguins came back quickly.
Mechling intercepted a screen pass by Mike Souza at the ISU
18 and rumbled down to the 10-yard
line. On a fourth-and-goal play from
the one, Mays scored his second
touchdown of the game to tie the
contest.
On the following kickoff, the Penguins recovered a blown sky
kick by Stewart at at the Illinois
State 41-yard line as freshman
Brandon Brown fell on the ball.
After three rushing plays netted seven yards, Youngstown
State faced a fourth-and-three
situation at the 34. Marshall
scrambled out of pressure and threw
to Jerald Burley in the end zone for
a score. Stewart's 35-yard extra
point following a penalty put YSU in
front 24-17.
For the game, YSU was 4-of-4 on fourth-down
conversions.
Illinois State tried to answer back against the wind in the
fourth. Carroll set up to attempt a
43-yard field goal, but the hold was
botched and Carroll's desperation
pass was intercepted by Barone.
After the team's traded punts, YSU got the ball back with
5:07 remaining and picked up five
first downs and 61 yards on 13 plays
to run the clock out and earn the
victory.
The YSU offense finished with 323 total yards while the
Redbirds were limited to 198. As a
team, the Penguins had 215 yards
rushing and 108 passing an held a
huge advantage in time of
possession, 35:25 to 24:35.
Also, the 24-17 victory marked the third time this season --
all on the road -- that the Penguins
won a game by that score.
The Penguins have next Saturday off before closing out the
year on Nov. 23 at home against
Samford. The contest marks the final
home game for 18 seniors who will be
honored prior to kickoff. |
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