Mike Burns rushed for two touchdowns while Josh Cayson added 136 yards and another score as the Youngstown State football team opened up its 2003 campaign with a 35-11 victory over the Edinboro Fighting Scots at Stambaugh Stadium on Thursday night.

The Penguins never trailed and scored 21 points in the second quarter as they opened up a 28-11 lead at halftime behind 127 second quarter rushing yards from Cayson. YSU outrushed the Scots 278 to 132 in the game.

Sophomore quarterback Aaron Marshall finished 5-for-10 with 82 yards and one touchdown through the air while adding 37 yards and a score on the ground. Burns finished with 84 yards on 17 carries while Cayson's 136 came on 10 carries. Freshman Tom Zetts passed for 26 yards on a 2-for-3 performance in his collegiate debut.

The Penguins got on the board first when Marshall scored from 16 yards out on a quarterback draw at the 2:00 mark in the first quarter. After Durell Preston recovered a fumble snap on an Edinboro field goal attempt, the Penguins marched 36 yards on 12 plays and took advantage of a costly 15-yard penalty to take a 7-0 lead. Junior placekicker Nick Terracina booted a 50-yard field goal earlier in the drive, but the Scots had 12 men on the field and gave the Penguins an automatic first down that led to Marshall's score.

After another failed field goal attempt by Edinboro with 11:35 remaining in the opening half, it took the Penguins only one play and 15 seconds to increase their lead to 14-0 as Cayson cut across the field on an off tackle and outran the Scots' secondary for 73 yards for his first career touchdown on his first collegiate carry.

Edinboro got within six by assembling an 11 play, 71 yard drive capped off by a three-yard touchdown rush by Matt Phillips with 6:12 remaining in the half. Phillips also converted the two-point conversion to make the score 14-8 in favor of YSU. Edinboro faced a key fourth-and-one on the drive, but Phillips came through again with an 18-yard rush to keep the drive alive.

YSU answered right back, however, as Burns upped the Penguin lead to 21-8 at the 3:33 mark in the second quarter on an 11-yard rush up the middle. On the drive, Burns and Cayson combined for 43 yards on four carries and Zetts connected with Kyle Smith for 12 yards to set up the score.

With the clock winding down on the first half, the Scots put together an 11-play, 64 yard drive to set up freshman placekicker Eli Visnick's first career field goal from 37 yards out with 50 seconds remaining in the first half.

With the Penguins up 10 and on their own 27-yard line, Cayson again ignited the offense with a 29-yard rush to the Edinboro 44. Two plays and a 15-yard penalty later, Marshall found tight end Mike Roberts in the flat for a 14-yard touchdown that gave the Penguins a 28-11 advantage heading into the locker room.

"The offense started off a little slow," Cayson said, "but we picked it up before halftime and put a couple scores in. Overall, I think we're getting to where we need to be."

After a scoreless third quarter, Burns used just 35 seconds in the fourth quarter when he added his second touchdown of the game on a four-yard rumble to put the Penguins up 35-11 with 14:25 remaining.

Mike Bracken finished with 10 tackles to lead the defense while linebackers Joe Juby and Yancy Marcum added nine apiece to anchor the defense. Pat Reece had a 31-yard interception return with 31 seconds remaining in the game to seal the win.

With the win, YSU has won its last eight season openers.

The Penguins will continue their season next Saturday when they host Slippery Rock at 7 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.