Marcus Mason rushed for 197 yards and two touchdowns and Justin Reams had 100 yards and two scores as the eighth-ranked Youngstown State football team rolled past Indiana State 55-17 on Saturday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Penguins improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Gateway with the victory while the Sycamores are now 0-6 and 0-2.

Indiana State scored first when Kyle Hooper converted a 21-yard field goal midway through the first period.

After that, Youngstown State scored the final 27 points of the first half and 34 straight to build a 34-3 advantage before two consecutive Sycamore touchdowns made things interesting for a while in the fourth quarter. However, the Guins scored the final 21 points to pull away for the win.

The Penguins tied the game at three on a 40-yard Brian Palmer field goal.

Youngstown State opened the game up by scoring 24 points in the second quarter.

The onslaught begin when Palmer converted a 33-yard field goal on the first play of the second period.

The next possession was all Mason. Mason had runs of 30, five, 11 and seven before finishing off the five-play 66-yard drive with a 13-yard scoring run.

After a Sycamore three-and-out series, YSU scored on a methodical 11-play 68-yard drive to jump ahead 20-3. Reams scored on a two-yard scamper, one play after Indiana State was flagged for pass interference on a third-goal situation.

Youngstown State executed a perfect two-minute situation on its final drive of the quarter.

After getting the ball with 1:38 at the Indiana State 49-yard line, quarterback Tom Zetts completed 3-of-4 passes for 37 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown toss to T.J. Peterson with 27 seconds remaining as YSU led 27-3 at halftime.

The Penguins opened the third quarter with another score on their first possession.

YSU moved 64 yards in 10 plays as Reams found the end zone again, this time from four yards out. The Penguins grabbed a 34-3 lead with just under five minutes into the quarter.

But Indiana State hung tough scoring the next two touchdowns.

Ben Schmidt had a 20-yard touchdown pass to Sam Logan in the third quarter and hooked up with Carl Berman on a 16-yard score in the fourth quarter following a Guin turnover.

However, Mason's final score a 56-yard up-the-middle jaunt put the game out of reach with 8:03 remaining as YSU took a 41-17 lead.

Jason Perry, who was honored as the Gateway Defensive Player of the Week the past two games, put his hat in the ring for the Special Teams award when he returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown with 7:09 left in the game.

Fullback Ben Lane added the final score of the game with a 23-yard touchdown run for his first career score.

YSU finished with 493 yards of total offense, including 382 on the ground.

The Penguins return to action next Saturday at Western Illinois. The Leathernecks suffered a 31-24 loss at Southern Illinois today.