Aug. 22, 2009
Offense Retains Red Jerseys With 28-20 Scrimmage Win
Youngstown -- The offense grinded out a 28-20 victory over the defense in the final jersey scrimmage of fall camp for the Youngstown State football team on Saturday morning at Stambaugh Stadium. The offense, which came from behind to win last week's scrimmage led from the outset this time and did not commit a turnover, en route to keeping the Red jerseys throughout the 2009 season.
Freshman fullback Rob Stupar had three catches for 26 yards on Saturday.
Photo By Ron Stevens
With the completion of the scrimmage, YSU has now completed its fall camp with classes set to begin on Monday.
The quarterbacks did not throw any touchdown passes, but did not have any interceptions either. Senior Brandon Summers was 5-of-10 for 34 yards, sophomore Marc Kanetsky was 3-of-5 for 25 yards and sophomore Dailyn Campbell Campbell was 2-of-4 for 16 yards. Freshmen Gannon Hulea was 2-of-3 for 22 yards while Kurt Hess completed a five-yard pass in five attempts.
Highlighting the scrimmage was the performance of two true freshmen tailbacks who have not taken a class yet. Torrian Pace, from Chantilly, Va., had two touchdown runs while Jamaine Cook, Cleveland, had a scrimmage-high 107 yards on 13 carries, including a long of 35. Pace had 57 yards on a workman-like 16 carries.
Donald Jones and Rob Stupar each caught a scrimmage-high three passes. Stupar had 26 yards receiving while Jones had 18. Jelani Berassa was the only other player with more than one catch, hauling in two receptions for 24 yards.
Head Coach Jon Heacock said he saw improvement from last Saturday's scrimmage.
“ We saw a bit of a sluggish team – this is practice 20," he said. "I think we did improve. I think the team was the offense did not turn the ball over. As I shared with the team, this scrimmage is so realistic to an actual game, it’s really important. It was a tight game and you have to get a turnover. When it’s a tight game you can’t let them score. But I give our offense credit they didn’t turn the ball over and defensively we could get any. You are not going to win the jersey scrimmage if you don’t force turnovers."
The offense opened the scrimmage with a 10-play drive from their own 18 that stalled at the defense's 39. The offense moved the ball well the next time out reaching the defense's 28 in eight plays before that drive ended.
The offense was able to move into field goal position on its next two series. Starting at the 30, the offense drove to the 25 before Stephen Blose's 41-yard boot was wide right. Next time time down the offense reached the 26, but Nick Liste's field-goal try was blocked by defensive tackle Josh Myers.
Cook and Pace took over the scrimmage from that point for the most part. Pace capped an six-play 60-yard drive with a 12-yard scoring run. Cook opened the drive with a 35-yard scamper.
Defensively, safety Scott Sentner had eight tackles while Mychal Savage and Noah Taylor added seven each. David Rach and Joel Younkins were credited with six stops. Savage had three tackles for 17.5 yards in losses, including a 10-yard sack.
At least 10 players did not participate in the 90-minute scrimmage for various reasons.
YSU opens the 2009 two weeks from today with a 1 p.m. contest against Pitt at Heinz Field. The home opener is Sept. 12 versus Austin Peay.
He said the offense moved the ball better, but both sides kept battling.
"To me that was a good grind and that makes a good scrimmage," he said. "I was pleased some series went 10, 12 plays. The played better but there weren’t any really big plays against the defense, which was good. We missed a few more tackles today, we weren’t as sharp. But I think it was a good end of camp scrimmage."