Springfield, Mo. -- The Youngstown State football team ran out of time in a comeback bid at SMS on Saturday afternoon losing 34-28 at Plaster Field.

YSU trailed 34-21 with 3:36 remaining, but a quick touchdown and a defensive stand gave the Penguins one final shot with 1:36 remaining, 71 yards from the SMS end zone and no timeouts left. The Penguins (4-7 overall and 2-4 in the Gateway) moved the ball into SMS territory but Josh Cayson was tackled inbounds at the 39 by SMS strong safety Derrick Byrd after catching a Tom Zetts pass and time expired.

Behind by 13, Youngstown State was down, but not out when Matt Rycraft returned a kickoff 75 yards back to the SMS 17 with just 3:36 remaining. Zetts hooked up with Rycraft for a seven-yard score just 33 seconds later to pull within six.

The Penguins defense stopped SMS on its last offensive possession, added by a 15-yard illegal participation penalty to get the ball back with 96 seconds remaining.

On the final drive, YSU was able to pick up three first downs, but could not get any closer.
Zetts completed 18-of-25 passes for 258 yards and a career-best three touchdowns. His performance was overshadowed by SMS's Cody Pratt who had a school-record 43 carries for 176 yards and scored two touchdowns.

In the fourth, SMS took a 31-21 lead when Preston Portee scored a one-yard leap
with 6:20 left in the game on a fourth-down-and-goal play. Portee's score ended a 20-play drive that evaporated 10 minutes and 14 seconds off the clock.

YSU had the ball just 19:38 of the game, while SMS had an amazing 40:22 time of possession.

Tim Meyer intercepted Zetts in YSU territory, but the Penguins were able to hold for a field goal with 3:47 remaining in the game and set up a frantic finish.

For the game, Youngstown State had 348 yards of total offense, 258 of which came through the air. SMS recorded 395 yards of total offense, 283 of which came via the ground.

In the third quarter, SMS came out of the locker room with continued momentum adding its third consecutive score to pull ahead 24-14. Pratt capped off an impressive drive that took 6:05 with a three-yard score.

Youngstown State struck back with another big passing play as Zetts throw to a wide open Shawn Carlson who raced 69 yards for a touchdown with 1:39 remaining in the period. On the point-after kick by Nick Terracina, he eclipsed Jeff Wilkins' school mark of 46 straight kicks with his 47th consecutive conversion. Terracina's kick in the fourth extended his mark to 48.

In the first half, both teams combined for 31 points and 395 yards of total offense as SMS twice overcame touchdown deficits to take a 17-14 lead at halftime.

YSU took the games initial drive 80 yards in just four plays to jump out to a 7-0 lead on a Gibson one-yard score. The big play came on third down when Zetts beat a blitz by dumping the ball over the line to Mike Roberts who took the pass 73 yards to the SMS one. On the next play Gibson put the Penguins ahead 7-0.

SMS tied the score early in the second quarter when Porter hit Jay Steinbroner in the back of the end zone from five yards out. The Bears moved the ball 64 yards on 12 plays as 5:35 elapsed from the clock.

The Penguins drove right back down the field to answer the score. On a second-down play at the SMS one, Zetts found a wide open Roberts in the corner of the end zone to put YSU back on top 14-7 with 8:52 remaining.

But SMS came on strong scoring the final 10 points of the quarter. Pratt scored on an eight-yard run with 2:27 left tying the contest. YSU went three-and-out on the series following Pratt's score and SMS set up shop at its own 40 with 1:23 remaining.

The Bears' drive stalled inside at the Penguins' six-yard line and Jon Scifres made a 23-yard field with four seconds remaining before the intermission.