Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Indiana State Sycamores fell 28-0 to Youngstown State in front of 3,557 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Sycamores were paced offensively by sophomore Ryan Roberts, who returned his role as the team's quarterback versus the Penguins. Roberts, who started the campaign as a wide receiver, went under center and was 11-of-18 passing for 78 yards.
Darrius Gates led the charges offensively with 11 rushes for 51 yards. Roberts was solid on the ground as he compiled 14 rushes for 18 yards.
Leading the Sycamores in receiving was Larry Lacotti, who hauled in three catches for six yards. Bryant Kent had a pair of receptions for 22 yards, including a game-best 17-yard catch off the arms of Roberts. Gates had 18 yards on a pair of receptions during the game as well.
Senior punter Gabe Mullane had 10 punts, averaging 37.5 yards per kick, including a long of 54 yards.
Sophomore Koby Kraemer returned from a preseason foot injury to return foour kicks for 81 yards, including a long of 32 yards.
Indiana State continued to excel on the defensive side of the football.
Aaron Archie paced ISU with 12 tackles including a pair for a loss. Senior Mike Woods, starting at safety in place of injuried sophomore Alex Sewall recorded an interception.
Senior Dan Millington recorded a solo sack for the second week in a row, this time for a loss of 20 yards.
Youngstown State was led by Kevin Smith on the ground, amassing 78 yards in 16 attempts. Brandon Summers was 21-of-33 passing with a pair of touchdowns. Dominique Barnes had seven catches for 86 yards and a score.
The Penguins opened up the game's scoring with a 36-yard pass from Summers to Barnes with 5:37 left in the first quarter which gave the Penguins a 7-0 advantage.
The Sycamores appeared to be ready to knot the game at seven midway through the second quarter when the Sycamroes took over at the YSU 31-yard line with 4:24 left before the half. A fumble inside the 20-yard line stymied ISU's best chance to score in the contest. The Penguins took the ball down to the ISU 16-yard line, but Stephen Blose missed the first of two field goal attempts to keep the score at 7-0 heading into the locker room.
The score stayed a 7-0 until the 10:03 mark of the fourth quarter when Smith rushed to pay dirt for 21 yards out to make it 14-0. Aaron Pitts caught a one-yard pass from Summers with just 4:39 on the clock to give the Penguins a 21-0 lead and YSU capped things off with a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown by Na-eem Outler with 3:45 left.
Indiana State has now been shutout for three consecutive games. The last time the Sycamores went 12 quarters without a score came during the 1951 campaign.
The Sycamores return to action on Saturday, October 3 when they travel to nationally-ranked Northern Iowa. Kickoff at the UNI Dome is set for 5:05 p.m. (ET).
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Youngstown State at Indiana State
Sept. 26, 2009
Indiana State Postgame Press Conference
Indiana State Head Coach Trent Miles
Opening Statement
"My hat's off to Youngstown State. They came in here and stayed with it and kept fighting and won the game. My hat's off also to our defense. I thought our defense played extremely well. They wore down toward the end, and we weren't able to do anything offensively to help them. They're playing well enough to win games. Now we've got to get the offense good enough to win games. It's just a shame to waste a defensive effort like we gave today. Those kids really played hard. With less than nine minutes to go, it's 7-0, and you've got a good college football game. It's anybody's game, and we self-destruct. We played well enough on our defensive side of the ball and on special teams to win the football game, but we're not doing anything on offense. We're putting ourselves in a bad situation until we can move the ball and score some points."
On the offense and quarterback Ryan Roberts
"The whole thing was creating something. We're not able right now to just line up and pound the ball down people's throats. You've got to create something. You've got to use a guy who can run around and get on the edge or scramble and run the option and run the read zone. It helps take the pressure off the young offensive line that's a little undersized right now. That's what the whole idea was. We wanted to move the ball and help keep our defense off the field. But 148 yards of total offense isn't good enough - and no points, that's what it comes down to. Once they went up 14-0, everything deflated. When you have those kinds of issues, but it's very sad for these young men because they've played so hard. They go out and work hard during the week and play with great attitudes."
Indiana State quarterback Ryan Roberts
On today's game
"The defense played extremely well. We've got to get points up on the board for you. You keep thinking something will happen, and when it doesn't, it's kind of heartbreaking. But it will. When it gets fixed, it will. We'll get it figured out."
On switching positions multiple times in the last two seasons
"I just have to attack it with an open mind. If they ask me to play some position, I'll do anything to help the team. (Playing quarterback) came back pretty quickly once I got out there."
Indiana State linebacker Aaron Archie
On today's effort
"We've got to step over that stepping stone. We're working on it every week, and every week we're making progress. We shut them out as much as we could, but we just broke down in the end."
On the focus of the defense
"That's our thought process every game - force turnovers, so our offense gets better field position every time. Defensively, we're stepping it up as much as we can to get the offense going."
Youngstown State Head Coach Jon Heacock
On senior leadership
"I give Indiana State credit. We finally found something a little bit that helped us. I've said this at home to our guys, our seniors have played extremely well down the stretch. Kevin Smith, Jabari Scott, Dana Brown, Brandon Summers, Donnie Jones and those guys really grind it. We found a little bit of something and just stayed with it. It's always people more than plays. That group for us has been doing a tremendous job as seniors, and we're fortunate."
On expecting to face Indiana State quarterback Ryan Roberts
"A year ago, that guy was tremendous. I told our guys the other day, that group there is difficult to stop. They're competitive guys, and we didn't stop them a year ago. Our kids worked hard on defense this week, and they knew the task at hand. They felt a little embarrassed a year ago at home because we didn't stop a soul. But I also told our guys as soon as I saw (Roberts) that it didn't surprise me."
