Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State’s Tyshon King tries to power past a Duquesne defender during the Penguins’ 40-7 win in the opening round of the FCS playoffs.

YOUNGSTOWN — All season long, Youngstown State has found success combining a stout run defense and a steady run game.

The run defense limited Duquesne to 74 rushing yards and the Penguins ran for 210 yards on Saturday night, both of which were the necessary ingredients in the Penguins’ comfortable 40-7 victory over the Dukes in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

“We haven’t been perfect this year, but maybe that’s intentional — they were still figuring it out,” YSU head coach Doug Phillips said. “We knew going into this new season in the playoffs that we had to learn from our mistakes during the course of 11 games. … We believe we’re a good football team, but how do we get to be great? It comes down to offense scoring points, defense being relentless and stopping the run and special teams being superior.”

It was YSU’s most complete performance on all sides of the ball since the Penguins’ 31-3 upset victory over Southern Illinois on Oct. 7.

YSU’s offense outgained the Dukes 532-148 and dominated the time of possession 42:27 to 17:33. Then the defense held Duquesne to just 115 total yards.

“You ask the kids, how do you win games? They all say it in unison — defense, defense, defense,” Phillips said. “We knew at times this year we needed to play better defense. We know we can stop the run, but when we can limit those explosive (plays) and keep them to six (yards) or less. … I don’t know how many offensive plays they had in the second half, but we had the ball for 42 minutes and that’s a long time to have the football. So when our defense did go out on the field, I thought we had some three-and-outs and got the ball right back to the offense.”

After leading just 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, the Penguins scored 30 unanswered points to end the game.

Dra Rushton got things started with a two-yard touchdown run to answer Duquesne’s first and only score of the night.

Then quarterback Mitch Davidson and the Penguins’ passing game took over from there, as he connected with Bryce Oliver on a fade to the back corner of the end zone for a 21-yard strike to end the first half.

The touchdown was Oliver’s 26th of his career, which broke the school record for career receiving touchdowns previously held by Jim “Flea” Ferranti, who played at YSU from 1976-1979. Oliver also set a new career high with 181 receiving yards against the Dukes.

“I’m so blessed. I think it’s a testament to the work Mitch and I put in throughout the offseason and just since I’ve been here,” Oliver said. “I think you see the stuff we do on the field, but (there’s) a lot that goes into it off the field.”

In that first half, Davidson also passed Jeff Ryan for the most passing yards in a single season for YSU. Davidson finished the game 18-for-27 for 316 yards and two touchdowns, which puts him at 2,801 yards on the year.

“Individual records don’t really mean anything for me,” Davidson said. “For a quarterback, it’s all about wins and losses and where you lead your team. To get in the playoffs, as a sixth-year senior — since I got here in 2018, that’s all I wanted to do as a quarterback was step in there and help our teammates make a playoff run. And I feel like I’m doing that.”

From there, the Penguins’ defense kept Duquesne’s offense off the field, and YSU was able to continue to move and possess the ball.

The Penguins were 5-for-6 in the red zone. But perhaps their lone blemish of the night was not being able to finish off some drives in the second half with touchdowns.

Still, Andrew Lastovka was able to kick four field goals for YSU, converting from 34, 25, 40 and 50 yards — the last three coming on consecutive drives in the second half.

“Sometimes you get to that point and you’re kicking a field goal. Those nine points could have been 21,” Phillips said. “Those are areas that we gotta go in and we gotta get better. We created those explosive (plays), now we gotta finish those drives.”

With the win, YSU moves on to face No. 8 seed Villanova on the road next Saturday at noon. The Wildcats were idle this week, as each of the top-eight seeds in the playoffs earned a first-round bye.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com