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YSU hoping to build off key win during closing stretch

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU defensive end Michael Voitus (42) and defensive tackle Nehemiah Dukes (44) pressure North Dakota’s Quincy Vaughn on the final play in last week’s overtime victory at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — Above the tunnel leading from Youngstown State’s locker room to the Beede Field turf at Stambaugh Stadium, hangs two signs that read, “Football is a 60-minute game” and “Finish.”

Both are part of the Penguins’ mantras — something that the coaching staff has stressed to the team all season long.

Now that YSU has seen the result of those efforts after an overtime win over then-No. 7 North Dakota this past week, a renewed sense of belief surrounds the program.

“We’ve been preaching and believing, but what the win does is it gives you belief that we can do it if we put it all together,” head coach Doug Phillips said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “I always say you need that ‘W’ to get that belief. We haven’t lost belief, but you keep telling them, we need to play 60 minutes. You play 60 minutes, you get what your work deserves. You look up at the scoreboard when you walk off the field, and it will tell you if you played with great effort and you executed.”

It wasn’t a perfect effort — YSU turned the ball over twice and gave up some big plays, while allowing North Dakota quarterback Simon Romfo to be efficient in the pocket.

“I told our kids, we gotta come out even hungrier, we gotta come out wanting to be better,” Phillips said. “We gotta correct the mistakes because it wasn’t perfect Saturday night. We were able to handle some of the things that maybe broke down on Saturday and handle it a little bit different, but we gotta make those corrections.”

Still, the Penguins did things against the Fighting Hawks that they’ve previously struggled to do on a consistent basis throughout the season — they made some key defensive stops in the second half and the offense consistently moved the ball and finished drives with touchdowns.

“I think it shows a lot of the guys that we are the team that we say we can be,” left guard Aidan Parker said. “When you go through a tough time like we have been the weeks previous, things start to get hard. But when you have a big statement win like that, it shows that we are who we say we can be, and we just gotta keep working to get to that.”

YSU hopes the win provides a springboard for the rest of the year, as the Penguins close out the final three games of the regular season.

“I tell our kids, you know how you felt about Saturday night — they got to feel that, they got to sing (the fight song), you should want more,” Phillips said. “Everybody wants more once they taste it. Now our job is to get them back focused and improving on the areas we need to improve.”

That continues this week as the Penguins travel to Normal, Ill., to face No. 21 Illinois State for the start of a two-game roadstand.

“It’s a hostile environment,” Phillips said. “Their student section sits right behind your bench. Last time we were there, I told our guys, you gotta ignore everything. You gotta focus on the things you can control, and that’s between the white lines. We started that talk even this week going in.”

YSU had some battles with the Redbirds in recent years.

The Penguins hold a slim series lead with Illinois State, 16-15, but YSU has won the last two meetings by a total of just five points. Last year, the Penguins needed a game-winning field goal as time expired to beat the Redbirds 41-38, and in 2022, YSU scored the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left for a 19-17 victory.

Illinois State quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse is a lot like Penguins quarterback Beau Brungard in his ability to use his legs. While Rittenhouse has thrown for 1,420 yards in eight games, he’s added 375 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

Rittenhouse’s ability to run and throw is paired with tailback Wenkers Wright, who has had a breakout season with 640 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

Receiver Daniel Sobkowicz, who torched YSU’s secondary for 170 receiving yards and three touchdowns in last season’s matchup, is also back for the Redbirds. But he’s paired with fellow receiver Xavier Loyd, who leads the team in receiving with 622 yards and three touchdowns.

“They’re physical, tough and hard-nosed,” Phillips said. “They got a quarterback that can run the ball as well as our quarterback, and he can throw the football. They got three phenomenal wide receivers that will be a great challenge for us in our back end. Up front, they’re a Missouri Valley Football Conference opponent — they’re going to be big, they’re going to be physical. I think they go 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8 on the tackle spots.

“Coach (Brock) Spack’s a defensive guy. They’re going to bring different pressures from different areas. They do some movements. So it’s really a great challenge. … You look at the history of their program, winning football games in the playoffs. So you’re going into Normal against a team that, right now as they go into November, is thinking playoffs.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.

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