Published: Sunday, December 3, 2006
Defense gave up yards, but made big plays
The Penguins forced four turnovers in Saturday's playoff victory.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
YOUNGSTOWN — Despite allowing nearly 400 yards of offense and 21 points, the Youngstown State University defense made some big plays to help the Penguins deliver a victory over Illinois State Saturday night.
The defensive effort by the Penguins against the Redbirds was quite different from the first matchup in Normal, Ill., when YSU held Illinois State to 163 yards and 13 points in a 27-13 victory.
This time, the defense relied on its big-play ability to turn back their Gateway Conference rival and earn a trip to Boone, N.C., next week to face Appalachian State.
ISU played well offensively against the Penguins with a great mix of running and passing but four turnovers and a defensive stand at the YSU 17 in the third quarter were too much for the Redbirds to overcome.
Coach credits YSU
"You have to credit much of [the turnovers] to YSU's great defense," said Illinois State coach Denver Johnson. "They made plays throughout the course of the ball game.
"They're a great football team."
The Penguins didn't put the game away despite building a 28-7 lead in the third quarter until the final minutes of the contest when James Terry grabbed the fourth interception of the game for the Penguins with just over a minute to play.
"We gave up some plays," said YSU linebacker Marty Hutchinson who also stole a pass off ISU quarterback Luke Drone. "In the end we got the ball back for our offense and got the job done."
Cordera Jackson and Dorian Chenault got the other two picks of Drone who had thrown only nine interceptions in 12 games entering the game.
"Turnovers were the key," said YSU coach Jon Heacock. "We've been preaching that forever around here.
"You have to win the turnover margin in every game but more importantly when you get this far along in the season."
Perry expected comeback
Jason Perry, who made five tackles and had a spectacular pass breakup of his own said that the Penguins knew that Drone had the tendency to take chances with the passing game when he was forced to throw.
"We knew that when we were up that they could come back," Perry said. "They have an explosive offense and Drone likes to get the ball to their playmakers.
"We keyed on that and were able to make those big plays."
Johnson said that the Redbirds had been prone to making a rash of mistakes in the last couple of games and those mistakes came back to haunt his team.
"We left a lot of points on the field in the first half," Johnson said. "We've had a rash of [turnovers and mistakes] lately and you can't win when you do that.
Both coaches said that they knew that things wouldn't be much different from the first time the two teams met and their weren't many adjustments made by the coaches since the regular season game.
"You have to take care of the football," Heacock said. "The one time we didn't, they were able to get a score and get back in the game."
Hutchinson summed up the contest the best in the postgame press conference.
"We knew [the Redbirds] were going to come in here fired up and moving the ball," Hutchinson said. "We knew that turnovers were going to be the key to winning the game.
"Turnovers saved us and that's how we were able to win the game."
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