By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Indiana State went toe-to-toe with the dynamic defense of No. 14 Youngstown State, but a 79-yard punt return TD by YSU's Darien Townsend ended up being the difference in ISU's 13-10 loss to the Penguins at Stambaugh Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sycamores (4-5, 2-4 MVFC) led for the first 50 minutes and 21 seconds of play after jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but YSU (6-2, 4-1 MVFC) chipped away with two field goals before the game-winning punt return TD with 9:19 to play.

“I was very proud of the way our team played,” said ISU head coach Mike Sanford. “I think we played very hard, I think we played with great focus and great effort. I think our defense was tremendous. There were some situations where I had to decide whether to go for it on fourth down at midfield and I just believed that our defense was going to stop them. I didn't think they'd score. I thought we would cover punts, and unfortunately they are the number one punt return team in the conference and it showed up on that play.”

The return came on the finest punt of the evening by ISU punter Thomas Bouldin, who booted it down to the YSU 21 from the ISU 17, but Townsend made a tremendous set of moves to escape a checkmate on the sideline and had a wall of blockers as he cut across to the left sideline for the score.

“It was a great punt, and I don't want to say anything negative about Thomas because that was a great punt,” Sanford said. “We just have to cover better. We had our chances to get him down there. We had him trapped down there on the sideline and we let him out. He's a dynamic player and he made a great play.”

The Sycamore defense had a very strong defense, forcing the Penguins to five punts, two interceptions and two missed field goals, with the only blight on their resume tonight being 151 rushing yards to former MVFC Freshman of the Year Martin Ruiz. Redshirt freshman Jonas Griffith led the Sycamores with nine tackles and had a leaping interception in the first quarter immediately after a Sycamore score while everything was working in ISU's favor.

The first of those interceptions came from senior LB Jameer Thurman, who returned it 15 yards to setup the lone touchdown on the day from either team, a nine-yard pass from QB Isaac Harker to WR Robert Tonyan Jr.

All cylinders were clicking early for the offense, but the ferocious defensive front of the Penguins eventually got to Harker, sacking him an extraordinary seven times for a massive loss of 65 yards. The secondary of YSU did just as well, picking off Harker twice for only his second multiple interception game of his young career.

“Offensively I thought our plan was good,” Sanford said. “I thought we ran the ball against a very good rushing defense. We had some critical situations at the end where we shot ourselves in the foot. We had two false starts in some critical situations in the fourth quarter that put us in long-yardage situations that we weren't able to convert. We've got to perform better on offense at the end in that situation.”

The lone bright spot statistically for the Sycamore offense, though, were Tonyan and RB Roland Genesy. Tonyan hauled in five passes for 40 yards and one touchdown, in the process becoming just the third Sycamore to ever pass the 2,000-yard plateau in career receiving yards.

Genesy, along with RB Dimitri Taylor, found holes in the Penguin defense to keep the ball moving for the Sycamores. Genesy ended with 88 yards and zero yards lost after a light week at Southern Illinois following an ankle injury vs. South Dakota. Taylor added in 42 yards rushing.

ISU returns home for the final time this season when it hosts Northern Iowa for Senior Day next Saturday, Nov. 5, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

“We've got to stay together and keep fighting and keep competing,” Sanford said. “It's a big game at home next week. It's Senior Day on Saturday, and that's a big thing. We need to go out and play a great game and win for our seniors.”

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