Terre Haute, Ind. – Junior tailback Marcus Mason rushed for two touchdowns, sophomore quarterback Vince Gliatta threw for two and Monquantae Gibson added another score on the ground as the 22nd-ranked Youngstown State football team built up a 35-0 halftime lead and went on to defeat Indiana State 45-0 on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

With the victory, the Penguins improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Gateway Football Conference while Indiana State drops to 0-6 and 0-2. YSU is 2-0 in the Gateway for the first time since 2000 when it started the league campaign 4-0.

Mason rushed for 119 yards on 14 carries in the first half and finished the game with 152 yards on 18 rushes. He had two touchdown runs of three yards apiece, the first giving YSU a 7-0 advantage just 1:53 into the game. Gibson, who had 77 yards in the opening half on seven attempts, extended the advantage to 14-0 just over two minutes later capping a four-play 48-yard drive with a two-yard score.

The YSU offense used a 5:28 drive that went 90 yards in 12 plays before Mason went in from three yards to increase the lead to 21-0 with 9:18 left in the second quarter.

From there, reserve quarterback Vince Gliatta replaced starter Tom Zetts and engineered two scoring drives. For the game, Zetts completed 13-of-16 passes for 129 yards. Gliatta was 4-of-4 for 59 yards and the two scores. Gibson finished the game with 99 yards rushing on 11 attempts.

After a 28-yard punt return by Jason Perry to the Sycamores' 22, Gliatta found Demetrius Ison for a five-yard touchdown pass with 4:33 left in the half as the Penguins increased their lead to 28-0.

On its final possession of the second half, YSU moved 92 yards in nine plays as Gliatta finished off the drive with a nine-yard scoring toss to a wide-open Damian Wright with just 27 seconds left in the half.

The Penguins dominated the first half statistics both offensively and defensively.
YSU totaled 338 yards on 41 snaps while Indiana State was limited to 150 yards on 31 plays.

Of the 338 yards for the Penguins, 238 came on the ground. The defense held the Sycamores to 42 rushing yards on 15 carries.

For the game, Youngstown State amassed 567 yards on 78 total plays and had an impressive 37:08 of possession time. Of those 567 yards, 379 came on the ground. Indiana State finished with 269 total yards.

In the fourth quarter, Brian Palmer kicked a 39-yard field goal and freshman Jabari Scott scored on a 23-yard touchdown run for the final outcome.

Youngstown State returns home to play host to Western Illinois next Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.