Published: Friday, December 8, 2006
Penguins' seniors ready for big challenge
YSU meets Appalachian State Saturday for a berth in next week's title game.
By PETE MOLLICA
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State's football program has won four national championships and been to the title game six times, but no player on the current roster has even been in the playoffs until this season.
The Penguins' last trip to the national championship game came in 1999 when they lost to Georgia Southern 59-29.
There are 27 seniors on the YSU roster and all of them are working hard to get the Penguins to their seventh title game.
The Penguins are one victory away from that goal and it will be decided Saturday afternoon in Boone, N.C., when they take on defending national champion and No. 1 seed Appalachian State.
The kickoff at Kidd Brewer Stadium will be at 4 p.m. and the contest will be televised live over ESPN and ESPN HD.
"This is my senior season and me and the rest of the seniors want this to last as long as possible," said senior wide receiver T. J. Peterson.
"Heck we've been playing like it's been the playoffs ever since we lost to Northern Iowa," he added.
Big task ahead
Peterson and the rest of the seniors know that they have a big task ahead of them on Saturday against the Mountaineers.
"We know they are good and very fast, but so are we," Peterson added.
Senior tailback Marcus Mason echoed his teammate.
"This is another football game against a good team, but that's all we've been playing against since the season began," Mason said.
"We can't worry about how good Appalachian State is, we can only take care of ourselves and we're pretty good too," he said.
Both teams on streaks
The Mountaineer are 12-1, winning 12 straight games since losing their opener to North Carolina State. They've won 26 straight games at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Penguins are 11-2 and have won five straight and nine of their last 10 games. More importantly, the Penguins are 6-0 in NCAA Division I Football Championship Series semifinal contests, 2-0 on the road.
"We've played pretty well on the road this season," added Mason. "It's still just another football game."
Peterson and Mason have both been having career seasons for the Penguins.
Peterson, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native, has now caught at least one pass in 24 straight games for the Penguins and in the two playoff games he has 15 receptions for 217 yards and two touchdowns.
Mason set a school single season rushing record with 1,726 yards and ranks second with 22 touchdowns. He's also had nine games with more than 100 yards rushing this season.
Knows what to expect
YSU head coach Jon Heacock knows what to expect from the Mountaineers.
"They're going to spread you out and then come at you with both their quarterback and tailback and they're both good," Heacock said.
"The quarterback [Armanti Edwards] is just freshman, but he's grown up in the position this year and the tailback [Kevin Richardson] is a 1,000 yard back," he said.
Heacock and assistant head coach Sam Eddy are the only two coaches who have been this far in the playoffs before and they've tried to relay the experience to the players.
"We just try to help them understand what's going to take place" Heacock said. "They definitely have an advantage of being at home, but we've played well on the road this year.
"You can't beat yourself on the road, you have to make them beat you."
Benefited from Penn State
Heacock said the Penn State loss was beneficial.
"A lot of people wanted to know if it was worth it playing a team like Penn State during the season," he said. "It certainly is now, playing before over 100,000 people. Nobody's going to make more noise then these kids heard there."
The weather has hampered the Penguins practice somewhat this week, the cold and snow have made things uncomfortable.
"I know our guys will be ready to go," he said. "I'm not worried about preparation.
"I also know that this is where you want to be, win one more and get to the championship game. We want to be one of those teams."
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