Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. A trio of Youngstown State defenders stop Indiana State quarterback Elijah Owens on the Sycamores' final drive of the game on Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — Earlier this week, Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips described the ideal defense for the Penguins.

He called it “relentless” — a unit that for 60 minutes of gametime has the ability to get off the field, give the ball back to the offense, force turnovers and pressure and sack the opposing quarterback.

For three out of four quarters, YSU’s defense started to look like what Phillips envisioned on Saturday, as the Penguins put together their best defensive performance of the season, holding on for a 21-14 win over Indiana State at Stambaugh Stadium on Homecoming.

“One thing we’ve been telling our kids is trust in the plan,” Phillips said after Saturday’s win. “Defense, that’s how you have to win games. There’s times today when our offense wasn’t quite getting it done there in the second half. The defense gave up some points, but rose up when they needed to and got us the win there at the end of the game.”

With just under six minutes to play, YSU clung to a one-score lead.

On the Sycamores’ final possession, they began the drive at their own 8-yard line. On third-and-short, ISU quarterback Elijah Owens hit tailback Plez Lawrence over the top of the Penguins’ defense for 47 yards, and just like that, the Sycamores were in business.

Four plays later, ISU was in position to tie the game with a first down at the YSU 12-yard line. That’s when the Penguins’ defense made their stand.

Owens, who had been the main source of the Sycamores’ offense in the second half, was stood up for no gain on the first play. Then, he dropped the snap on second down and was forced to fall on the ball for a loss. On third down, defensive tackle Joe Brown sacked Owens for a loss of eight yards.

Just like that, ISU was staring at fourth-and-23 from the 25-yard line. On the Sycamores’ last offensive play, Owens heaved a desperation pass to the goal line near the pylon, which was broken up by cornerback Payton Edwards.

Ballgame.

“We knew it was going to come down to their quarterback, who does great things with his feet and made plays out there,” Phillips said. “They get that explosive play and all of a sudden, they’re inside the 30-yard line. … But when the defense needed to make some big plays there at the end, they did. We haven’t seen that all year, so I applaud our defense. I applaud them.”

This past week, YSU had what it described as its “best week of practice” of the season.

It showed in the first half, as the Penguins’ offense tallied 207 total yards and put together three scoring drives, while the defense held the Sycamores’ scoreless and limited them to 33 total yards.

“We know we’re that defense,” said defensive end Hunter Allen, who finished with two sacks. “We know we can do that every week. We just have to do it. I said the other day that we have to trust the giver, trust the coaches. In the first half, we did our jobs, we came out and you see what happens when you trust the call, trust your teammates and trust the communication. I think I heard the back end making calls louder than I ever had today, which is great.”

But after an emphatic first half by YSU, the Sycamores showcased their resiliency.

Led by some big plays from Owens with his legs and through the air, ISU put together back-to-back touchdown drives in the third quarter to put the pressure on the Penguins.

On the first score, Owens hit Lawrence for 34 yards on a wheel route out of the backfield, then Owens called his own number and kept it himself for a 4-yard touchdown run on the next possession.

The Sycamores had 185 of their 284 total yards in that third quarter alone.

“We only put probably 45 minutes together out of 60,” Allen said. “So we’d like to see the defense do it for a whole 60 minutes. Once we get to that 60, it’s going to be something special.”

Owens threw for 149 yards and a touchdown, while also carrying the ball 26 times for 114 yards and a score.

“I think they did a good job of utilizing the quarterback,” Allen said. “They probably went in at halftime and realized we were rushing off the edge pretty hard, and that B gap was opening up, and they took advantage of it. So we just gotta keep honing in on that, knowing that I gotta counter sooner, knowing they’re making adjustments at halftime. They made some good adjustments, but we stuck with our guns, and somehow we pulled it off.”

After an efficient first half, YSU’s offense struggled to find the same success in the second half.

On six drives, the Penguins totaled just 98 yards after halftime. Four drives were essentially three-and-outs, while the one drive YSU moved the ball ended in a missed field goal.

“I don’t think we had a first down there in the first three drives (of the second half),” Phillips said. “Sometimes we’re so worried about what they’re doing. We wanted to have a three-phase attack and sometimes we gotta keep attacking. You saw it the time we got Max (Tomczak) the ball on that big (58-yard catch-and-run). We got athletes, we got some players too. Let’s get the ball in their hands. We’ll learn from it. It’s better to learn from a win than a loss. We learned a lot from the first five games, and we’re going to learn a lot from this win.”

YSU improves to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with the win and will travel to face top-ranked South Dakota State next Saturday at 3 p.m.

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