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Some good, some bad after Penguins loss at Northern Iowa

AS great as the Youngstown State football team looked through four games, there were reasons to hesitate before lauding them a playoff team. A somewhat soft non-conference schedule allowed for a mostly dominant start — with YSU winning its first four games by 20 points or more. Then came the Missouri Valley Football Conference opener Saturday, and the team that had been pushing teams around finally felt some push back. Now fans will see if they can get back up. No. 13 Northern Iowa continued its home dominance of the Penguins, who have not won in Cedar Falls since 1999. The ...

Area tracks still open late in racing season

While the curtain is closing on the 2019 racing season there is still some great racing to be had. This weekend, October 4-5, Michaels Mercer Raceway will present the 20th Little Guy Nationals. The 3/8-mile dirt oval will host an eight-division program consisting of what would usually be support divisions. The hugely-successful format lets these divisions race for more money than usual. With most racetracks closed now, car counts easily exceed over 200 cars. Many drivers from various tracks that usually don’t get to race each other will challenge each other. Divisions include ...

Game fish hungrier than ever this time of the year

Game fish species here in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania have kicked up their feeding as our days get shorter and water gets cooler. Their appetites are impressive. Imagine if people could eat quantities that are the equivalent of the proportion of body weight that bass, walleye and northern pike are eating this month at Mosquito, Milton, Shenango, Berlin and West Branch. I’ve been bass fishing two times a week since Labor Day and have been amazed at the bulging bellies of the largemouth bass and even a few smallmouths. I have kept a few fish in the livewell to weigh ...

Walleye, perch forecasts excellent

Lake Erie is the gift that keeps on giving. The lake has become world famous for its outstanding walleye fishing, and the yellow perch aren’t about to be upstaged either. Since Erie began its rebound in the 1970s after two decades of decline, thanks to poor water quality and over-harvest, the big water has had more up years than down. It would appear the “up” will continue for the foreseeable future. Based on survey results by fisheries biologists at nearly 40 locations from Toledo to Huron, walleye experienced an outstanding hatch during this year’s spawn and yellow perch ...

YSU ‘grit’ campaign has its positives

YOUNGSTOWN — A little lumberjack, a little grit and maybe even a little swag. That’s the best way to describe the new sideline props of the Youngstown State football team, and if that doesn’t also accurately depict the Mahoning Valley, I don’t know what does. Maybe you caught a glimpse of the team’s sideline after a big play at some point this season. The new fad was clearly evident in the Penguins’ nationally televised season opener against Samford, and it mimics the “turnover chain” of the Miami Hurricanes, Alabama’s “ball-out belt” and Boise State’s ...

Get your northern pike experience close to home

You can spend big bucks on a dream trip to a North Woods wilderness lodge where northern pike prowl the cold waters. Or you might just drive up to Bazetta and Mecca townships and work the weedy waters of Mosquito Lake. Northern pike have been slashing and crashing anglers’ baits all across Mosquito the past week or so as the post-Labor Day cool-down has invigorated the food chain and activated big predator fish. Schools of shad and yellow perch are the feedstock for Mosquito’s walleyes, largemouth bass and northern pike. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been pulling water ...