Youngstown State University
South Dakota
Penguins Set to Entertain Fourth-Ranked South Dakota
10/15/2024 1:30:00 PM | Football
Youngstown State vs. South Dakota
Oct. 19, 2024 | Stambaugh Stadium
Youngstown, Ohio | 6 p.m.
Broadcast Information
TV – ESPN+ (Drae Smith, Dante Nania)
Radio Network – 1390 WNIO (Bob Hannon, Steve Leslie, Anthony Romo)
Internet Radio – 1390thegambler.iheart.com
App Audio - iHeartRadio App
Penguins
Record: 2-5, 1-2 MVFC
Last Game: at South Dakota State (L, 13-63)
Head Coach: Doug Phillips (Fifth Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @ysufootball
Coyotes
Record: 5-1, 3-0 MVFC
Last Game: UNI (W, 42-17)
Head Coach: Bob Nielson (Ninth Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @SDCoyotesFB
Series History
All-Time Series: YSU leads 8-3
At YSU: YSU leads 6-0
Win Streak: USD, 1 game
Last Meeting: South Dakota 34-31 (2023)
| Opponent | Date | Location | Video | Audio | Live Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Saturday Oct. 19 | 6 PM |
Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, Ohio |
ESPN+ | 1390 WNIO | Live Stats |
The Youngstown State football team entertains No. 4 South Dakota this Saturday. Kickoff at Stambaugh Stadium is set for 6 p.m. The game is available on ESPN+, 1390 WNIO and iHeartRadio.
YSU (2-5 overall, 1-2 in the MVFC) dropped a 63-13 contest at top-ranked South Dakota State last Saturday at Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, S.D. The Jackrabbits returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the Penguins never got on track in the defeat.
Trailing 14-0, the Guins had a time-consuming 13-play drive that took 6:50 off the clock. Andrew Lastovka connected on a 39-yard field goal to get the Penguins on the scoreboard.
SDSU answered with three straight scoring drives and just before halftime, Beau Brungard capped off a 91-yard march with a four-yard keeper to make the contest 35-10 at intermission.
In the second half, YSU added a field goal, but four SDSU touchdown passes provided the final margin.
The Guins maintained possession for 40:17 in the contest and amassed 372 yards on 72 plays in the contest. Punter Brendon Kilpatrick had a standout day with four punts for an average of 52.2 yards per kick, including a career-long-tying 65-yarder.
South Dakota (5-1, 3-0) scored four straight touchdowns to break open a tie game with UNI and cruise to a 42-17 win at the DakotaDome.
The Coyotes threw for a season-high 321 yards in the win, led by a 284-yard performance by Aidan Bouman. Travis Theis had a pair of scores while the defense limited UNI to just 56 yards rushing.
This is the 12th all-time meeting between the programs and the Guins have won the previous six meetings at Stambaugh Stadium, including a 45-24 win in 2022. Last year, YSU trailed 31-10 before storming back to tie the game at 31 with 5:48 remaining. However, South Dakota's Will Leyland made a 41-yard field goal as time expired for the Coyotes' victory.
YSU is facing its third top-six ranked foe in eight games - No. 1 South Dakota State, No. 4 South Dakota and No. 6 Villanova. The Guins also face 10th-ranked North Dakota next Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Wright Stuff
TB Ethan Wright has been a huge addition to the program after transferring from Cincinnati.
Wright has started at tailback each of the past three games for the Penguins. In two of those contests he has rushed for season highs.
Against Indiana State, he had 81 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns At Missouri State, he rushed for 76 yards on a season-high 17 carries and added a touchdown.
In five of seven games this year, Wright has rushed for 61 yards or more.
In 32 career games played at UC from 2020-23, he had 215 yards on 44 attempts and caught five passes for 44 yards. After seven games at YSU, he has 81 carries for 434 yards and 14 receptions for 75 yards.
Hunting Down Quarterbacks
Senior DE Hunter Allen registered two sacks and had two QB hurries in the win against Indiana State.
For the contest he had four solo tackles. His final QB hurry came on the ISU's last play, a 4th-and-23 from the YSU 25.
In his YSU career, he has played in 45 games registering 64 total tackles and 10 sacks. He has a career-high four sacks this season.
Johnson Sets Career High
Senior LB Devin Johnson has set a career-high for tackles this season with 26 stops. His previous career best was 25 in 2022.
He's had at least three tackles in each of the past six games, highlighted by six vs. Valpo.
In 45 games played during his career, he has been credited with 80 tackles (54 solos).
Shahid Having Breakout Year
First-year starter Makai Shahid is having a solid debut season in the Penguins' secondary.
Shahid leads the team with 29 total tackles, including 22 solo stops so far this year.
He tied his season high with seven tackles against Indiana State. He also had seven tackles in the season opener at Villanova.
Tomczak Stepping Up
WR Max Tomczak is having a great 2024 campaign. Through seven games he has 34 receptions for 370 yards and two touchdowns.
He's had at least four receptions in every game this season, including a season-high-tying six at South Dakota State.
In the win over Valpo, he had a career-high two touchdown receptions, hauling in four catches for 98 yards. At Pitt he had a season-high six catches for 48 yards.
He caught 56 passes for 669 yards, and, in 2022 had 26 catches for 430 yards and two TDs.
For his career, Tomczak has 116 receptions for 1,569 yards and five scores.
Traugh Emerges At WR
Redshirt freshman WR Cyrus Traugh has emerged as a go-to receiver this season.
Through seven games, Traugh has 22 receptions for 271 yards and a team-high three touchdowns.
He had a breakout performance at Pitt with two touchdown receptions and four catches for 89 yards. At Pitt he had scoring catches of 44 and 25 yards accounting for both of YSU's touchdowns in the game.
His first career touchdown grab came at Villanova in the season opener.
The King Penguin
Tailback Tyshon King has four rushing touchdowns in 2024. He had a season-high two scores against Duquesne.
This season he has rushed for 301 yards on 78 carries, including a season-high 67-yard performance against Duquesne.
In his first season at YSU last year, King rushed for 1,011 yards on 187 carries and scored nine touchdowns en route to earning second-team All-MVFC honors. Six times last year he has eclipsed the 100-yard mark.
Specialists Keep Excelling
The Penguins' specialists are two of the most talented and consistent at the FCS level.
PK Andrew Lastovka, who was 17-of-20 on field-goal attempts in 2023, has made seven of eight attempts this season, including a season-long 46-yard boot at Pittsburgh. He is now 24-of-28 on field-goal tries in his career.
P Brendon Kilpatrick tied his career long with a 65-yard punt at South Dakota State. On four kicks, he averaged 52.2 yards punt and had two inside the 10-yard line. He has 24 punts on the year and is averaging 47.3 per kick. He has 11 punts of 50 yards or more.
He would rank fifth nationally, but is only averaging 3.4 punts per game, just below the NCAA's minimum qualifications of 3.6 attempts a contest. YSU leads all of FCS in Net Punting.
Brungard Shows Off Run Skills
Sophomore QB Beau Brungard has rushed for 532 yards on 75 carries after seven games. He is averaging an impressive 76 yards per game and 7.1 yards per rush. He has a game-high 16 attempts vs. Villanova and Missouri State.
Twice this year he has rushed for more than 100 yards - 194 vs. Valparaiso and 110 at Missouri State. Following the contest against Valpo he was named the MVFC's Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
Kilpatrick Earns MVFC Honor
Brendon Kilpatrick was named the Missouri Valley Football's Special Teams Player of the Week following the Penguins' 21-14 win over Indiana State.
Against the Sycamores, Kilpatrick averaged 47.8 yards on five punts. He had kicks of 52, 51, 50, 44 and 42 in the win. He had two inside the 20-yard line and placed one inside the 10. His last punt put the Sycamores at their own eight with under six minutes left.
New Faces on Defense
This season, 13 different players have made their first career starts on defense for the Penguins.
Most recently, CB Payton Edwards (Indiana State transfer) and DB Andrew Centofanti started at Missouri State. The week before, LB Preston Zandier started at Pitt. Against Duquesne, DT Tyler Bukur, DT Nehemiah Dukes and CB Jordan Rudolph were starters.
Against Villanova in the season opener, first-time starters were SS Stephon Hall, FS Makai Shahid, DB Kerion Martin and CB Isaiah Hackett, LBs Mike Wells and Devin Johnson and DTs Joe Brown and Jaelen Crider.
Previous starters were CB Jaylen Castleberry, DE Dawan Martin and DE Hunter Allen. Allen and Castleberry have started every game so far this year.
Father-Son QB Starters
QB Beau Brungard joined his father, Mark, as starting quarterbacks for the Guins.
Beau Brungard, a third-year sophomore, started for the first time in his career at Villanova. He has started all five games for YSU so far this season.
Mark made his starting debut on Sept. 2, 1993, at Western Michigan. Ironically both of those were season-opening Thursday night road games.
O-Line Features Experience
YSU's offensive line has a plethora of experience with three players starting more than 30 games.
That group features right tackle Jaison Williams (46 starts), Aidan Parker (44 starts), left guard David Metzler (32 starts) and left tackle Desmeal Leigh (20).
New to the lineup this year is Shane Keenan who has started seven times at right guard. Van Keen, who started twice at center in 2023, started the past four contests along the line, including a starting at center the last three games.
Grinding Down the Clock
The Guins, who ranked first in the FCS in time of possession averaging 35:06 per game in 2023, are currently first in the country again with an impressive TOP average of 37:08.
The Guins held the ball for 40:14 at top-ranked South Dakota State last Saturday.
Scoring Drives Breakdown
By Plays
9 | 7-or-fewer plays
15 | 10-or-more plays
20 | 8-or-more plays
By Time
9 | 3 minutes or less
11 | 6-plus minutes
18 | 4-plus minutes
Williams Garners Multiple Preseason Accolades
Veteran OL Jaison Williams was named to multiple preseason FCS All-American teams.
Williams was tabbed a preseason Second-Team All-American by FCS Football Central/SI.com and a third-team All-American by Stats Perform.
In 2023, he earned second-team all-conference honors after being named Honorable-Mention All-MVFC in 2021 and 2022.
Five Earn All-MVFC Honors
YSU had five preseason All-MVFC selections. Garnering first-team accolades were OL Jaison Williams and TB Tyshon King.
Additionally, WR Max Tomczak was a second-team pick while long snapper Sam Merryman and placekicker Andrew Lastovka were honorable-mention selections.
2024 Team Captains
YSU has elected five team captains for the 2024 season. The five players voted captains for the upcoming year are Jaison Williams (54), Tyshon King (10), Michael Voitus (42), Devin Johnson (45) and Logan Pasco (34). Williams and King are the offensive captains, Voitus and Johnson are the defensive captains and Pasco is the special teams captain.
Numbers of Note
• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, YSU is 158-48 when they win or tie the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 31-94.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 179-22-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 158-23 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 182-34 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 97-14-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 212-23 when leading entering the fourth.
• 95-3-2 holding opponents to 10 points-or-less.
Up Next:
The Penguins play host to North Dakota next Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
