Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU quarterback Mitch Davidson steps up to throw a pass during the Penguins’ Thanksgiving morning practice on Thursday. Youngstown State returns to the FCS playoffs to face Duquesne on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — For the first time in seven years, Youngstown State found itself practicing on Thanksgiving.

In high school football across Ohio, and at the FCS level of college football, being able to practice on the holiday is meaningful because it means the season is still alive while other teams sit at home.

The Penguins, after earning an at-large FCS playoff bid Sunday, face Duquesne in the first round at 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+ / 570 WKBN) at Stambaugh Stadium.

“That’s what you dream for, that’s what you sold the kids on,” head coach Doug Phillips said of practicing on Thanksgiving. “The kids that have been here from the beginning have gone through some hard times, and now we’re able to deliver that for them. I told them I (couldn’t) wait for the Thursday morning practice, and then we’ll eat turkey afterwards. Just to know you’re (still) playing in November and it’s a meaningful game — that’s what you build a program on.”

YSU practiced Thursday morning to prepare for Duquesne as part of their game week routine. Then that afternoon, the Penguins all shared a Thanksgiving meal with one another before breaking for 24 hours.

“It’s like feeding an army,” Phillips joked.

During that time, players could go visit family or spend time with each other for Thanksgiving. Those that didn’t have anywhere to go were invited into their coaches’ homes to share the holiday together with their coaches and teammates.

But on Friday afternoon, the players will all return to campus together to continue preparation for the Dukes before Saturday’s showdown.

“There’s a lot of logistics that go into it, and luckily we have some great support staff — my director of player personnel, Tony Chiaro, was making a list of all the kids because I don’t want them sitting in dorms,” Phillips said. “If they have a place to go, that’s great. But what’s fun is opening your house — we did for Easter last year and we probably had 18 players over.

“Most of the kids go with a buddy and go somewhere, but the rest, guess what? They can come over to my house and have as much turkey and ham (as they want). That’s why we have support staff — their job is to make sure our kids are taken care of off the field.”

The Penguins are going to grow to become quite familiar with the Dukes.

Even though the two teams have only ever played against each other five times, they met last year in Youngstown, a 31-14 YSU victory, and are again scheduled to meet during the regular season next year on Sept. 14.

For the Penguins, the start of the playoffs marks the beginning of a “new season,” a blank slate of sorts. It’s also a time for YSU to take stock in itself.

“When we were coming home on the plane (from Murray State), I told the kids you have a chance to reflect on the 11 games this past year, and not knowing you’re going to get in,” Phillips said. “But when you do get in, it’s a whole new season. You reflect back on what you could do better. I look back as a head football coach on maybe some of the mistakes I made.

“When we had our Tuesday practice, it’s getting back to basics. We probably did some drills that we did on the first day of full pads in camp, to get back to fundamentals, get back to technique and get back to discipline. That whole thing of starting fresh — (we) learn from what we did those first 11 games and go in with a clean slate, try to correct those things we did wrong and try to be ready to play a league champion in Duquesne.”

The Dukes won the Northeast Conference with a 7-4 overall, 6-1 conference record. Their lone NEC defeat came at the hands of Stonehill, 33-28, back on Nov. 11.

Duquesne played two FBS teams, West Virginia and Coastal Carolina, falling in both games by a combined score of 122-24. It also faced one FCS playoff team, Delaware, falling 43-17 in early October.

“If we overlook any team, we’re not here today,” Phillips said. “When we lost to South Dakota and got off the plane, the playoffs started. We had to beat Illinois State, beat Missouri State, we had to go to Indiana State and get a win. We lost to South Dakota State, and some thought we were out, but we had to get back on a plane and go down to Murray, Kentucky, and get a win. … To win college football games, you’re doing something special.”

Like the Penguins, Duquesne tries to lean on the run while keeping a balanced offensive attack. The Dukes average 155.5 yards per game on the ground, while throwing for 217.5 yards per game.

Darius Perrantes leads Duquesne’s offense under center, while Edward Robinson, Taj Butts and JaMario Clements spearhead the Dukes run game. Each of the three running backs have more than 400 yards this season.

Defensively, Duquesne wants to bring heat and pressure the quarterback, as it has 25.0 sacks this season.

“This year, they want to run the football, and I think they’ve got a great stable of running backs that they put in there, and they trust those guys when they want to establish the run game,” Phillips said. “Defensively, they do a lot of things. It’s going to be a challenge in passing situations because they bring guys from different places. We gotta rely on our fundamentals and technique to be able to pick up what they bring to protect our quarterback. So it’s a great challenge.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com