Youngstown State University
Duquesne
Penguins Host Duquesne in Playoff Rematch
9/10/2024 1:45:00 PM | Football
Youngstown State vs. Duquesne
Sept. 14, 2024 | Stambaugh Stadium
Youngstown, Ohio | 2 p.m.
Broadcast Information
TV – ESPN+ (Drae Smith)
Radio Network – 570 AM WKBN (Bob Hannon, Chris Sammarone, Anthony Romo, Mike Orto)
Internet Radio – 570wbkn.iheart.com
App Audio - iHeartRadio App
Penguins
Record: 1-1
Last Game: Valparaiso (59-25)
Head Coach: Doug Phillips (Fifth Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @ysufootball
Dukes
Record: 0-2
Last Game: at Boston College (L, 0-56)
Head Coach: Jerry Schmitt (20th Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @DuqFB
Series History
All-Time Series: YSU leads 6-0
In Youngstown: YSU leads 6-0
Win Streak: YSU, 6 games
Last Meeting: YSU 40-7 (2023)
| Opponent | Date | Location | Video | Audio | Live Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Saturday Sept. 14 | 2 PM |
Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, Ohio |
ESPN+ | 570 WKBN | Live Stats |
The No. 20 Youngstown State football team faces Duquesne on Saturday. The contest is another early season rematch from last year's FCS playoffs. Kickoff for the contest at Stambaugh Stadium is set for 2 p.m. The game is available on ESPN+, WKBN 570 AM and iHeartRadio.
The Penguins (1-1) rolled to their first victory of the season beating Valparaiso 59-20 in their home opener last Saturday. YSU jumped out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and outscored the Beacons 24-3 in the second half to pick up the impressive win.
On the first snap from scrimmage, YSU grabbed a 7-0 lead when Stephon Hall returned a fumble four yards for a score. The Guins added two more scores in the opening stanza on a 73-yard pass from Beau Brungard to Max Tomczak and a four-yard keeper by Brungard.
The second quarter featured 36 combined points as YSU picked up big-play scores by Brungard (65 yards) and Ethan Wright (64 yards). At halftime, the Penguins held a 35-22 advantage.
In the third quarter, Brungard scored on a 66-yard run, his third TD of the afternoon. In the fourth, Tomczak caught an eight-yard touchdown, Jaden Gilbert scored on a 36-yard run and Andrew Lastovka rounded out the scoring with a 29-yard field goal.
Duquesne (0-2) is playing its third straight road game after dropping contests at Toledo and Boston College. Last Saturday at BC, the Dukes dropped a 56-0 decision to the Eagles. Boston College built a 42-0 halftime lead in the game. In its opener, Duquesne lost 49-10 at Toledo.
The Penguins are playing the Dukes for the third straight season. In 2022, YSU won 31-14 in the regular season and in 2023, the teams met at Stambaugh Stadium in the first round of the FCS Playoffs. The Guins picked up a 40-7 win against the Dukes.
Leading 10-7, the Guins scored the final 30 points in the playoff victory to move onto the second round. QB Mitch Davidson passed for two scores, Lastovka kicked four field goals and Brungard added a rushing score.
The Penguins close out the non-conference portion of their season next Saturday at Pittsburgh.
Last Year vs. Duquesne
YSU played well-rounded football to defeat Duquesne, 40-7, at Stambaugh Stadium in the opening round of the FCS playoffs last November.
The Guins took a 10-0 lead in the contest following a nine-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Davidson to CJ Charleston and a 34-yard field goal by Andrew Lastovka. Duquesne pulled within 10-7 on a 24-yard TD run by Edward Robinson, Jaylen Castleberry's brother, but after that it was all Guins.
Dra Rushton added a two-yard score before Davidson connected with Bryce Oliver for a 21-yard touchdown pass to push the halftime lead to 24-7. The TD catch by Oliver was the 26th of his YSU career, which eclipsed the previous school mark of 25 held since 1979.
Lastovka kicked three straight field goals from 25, 40 and 50 yards as the Penguins built a 33-7 lead. QB Beau Brungard's TD with 3:10 left capped off a 10:57 drive late in the fourth quarter.
Pennsylvania Visitors
The Penguins have had a tremendous amount of success against visitors from the Keystone State.
The last time YSU lost a home game to a team from Pennsylvania was to Villanova on Oct. 28, 1978 (22-17).
Since that time, the Guins have won 39 straight home games against teams from Pennsylvania, including a playoff win over the Dukes in November.
Most of those contests came against members of the Division II PSAC. YSU has six wins over Duquesne, four victories over Robert Morris and three against Saint Francis (Pa.) and a pair of wins against Villanova in the winning streak.
Memorable Performance
The performance against Valparaiso was one of the top all-around efforts in program history.
YSU's 59 points tied for the seventh most in a game in school history. The 429 rushing yards were the eighth-most in a contest while the 554 total yards ranked as the 19th-best in program history.
Brungard's Big Day
QB Beau Brungard rushed for 194 yards on just 10 carries and had three touchdowns against Valparaiso. For his efforts he was named the MVFC's Offensive Player of the Week. He also completed 11-of-14 passes for 125 and a pair of touchdowns.
He was just one yard shy of the school record for rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. Demeartic Crenshaw had 195 yards against Missouri State during the 2021 campaign.
Top 5 QB Rushing Performances
195, Crenshaw vs. Missouri State, 2021
194, Brungard vs. Valparaiso, 2024
152, Matt Rycraft vs. WIU, 2003
134, Crenshaw vs. WIU, 2021
125, Jeff Ryan vs. Hofstra, 2000
The Wright Stuff
TB Ethan Wright picked up the first touchdown of his YSU career on a 64-yard run in the second quarter. It was his first collegiate touchdowns since the 2021 campaign when he was a running back at Cincinnati.
Against Valpo, he had seven carries for 77 yards. He opened the season with 63 yards rushing on 12 carries and added 27 yards on three receptions at Villanova.
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 two games at YSU, he has 19 carries for 140 yards.
Tomczak Stepping Up
WR Max Tomczak is off to a great start to the 2024 season. Through two games he has nine receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
In the win over Valpo, he had a career-high two touchdown receptions, hauling in four catches for 98 yards. At Villanova, he had a team-high five catches for 38 yards.
Tomczak caught 47 passes for 564 yards and a touchdown last year. He led the Penguins during MVFC play with 41 receptions. In 2022, he had 26 catches for 430 yards and two TDs.
For his career, he has 82 receptions for 1,130 yards and five scores.
Time Of Possession Still Solid
The Guins, who ranked first in the FCS in time of possession averaging 35:06 per game in 2023, are currently 14th after two games with an average TOP of 34:48.
YSU held the ball for 36:12 in the season-opening game at Villanova and had 33:25 vs. Valparaiso.
At Villanova, all of YSU's three scoring drives were all 10 plays or longer - 15, 15 and 10. The Penguins had two scoring drives of longer than nine minutes in the game - 9:47 and 9:14.
Defense Shuts Down the Pass
The Penguins have allowed just 15 completions after the first two games.
Valparaiso had nine completions while Villanova had only six in the season opener.
The Beacons had 167 yards passing while YSU held the Wildcats to just 90 yards in the season opener.
Last season, YSU held two opponents to fewer than 100 yards passing - Southern Illinois (94) and Duquesne (74).
The six completions were the fewest allowed since Illinois State had three on Nov. 23, 2019.
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.
Mark made his starting debut on Sept. 2, 1993, at Western Michigan. Ironically both of those were season-opening Thursday night road games.
Beau rushed for 82 yards on 16 attempts while completing 18-of-25 passes for 152 yards and his first career TD pass.
First-Time Score
WR Cyrus Traugh caught his first career touchdown pass on what was QB Beau Brungard's first career touchdown throw at Villanova.
In the third quarter, and on a fourth down, Brungard found Traugh for an 18-yard score. Traugh finished the game with three catches for 42 yards. He had two receptions vs. Valpo.
Our King Penguin
Tailback Tyshon King continued his strong play at YSU with a season-opening touchdown at Villanova.
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. He also caught 18 passes for 149 yards.
Six times last year he has eclipsed the 100-yard mark. Five times last year he had 18-or-more carries in a game.
King had a career-high 152 yards at Murray State in the 2023 regular-season finale.
On three occasions he was named the MVFC Newcomer of the Week for his efforts.
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 guard Jaison Williams (41 starts), center Aidan Parker (39 starts), left guard David Metzler (31 starts) and left tackle Desmeal Leigh (15).
New to the lineup this year is Shane Keenan who has started twice at right guard. Van Keen, who started twice at center in 2023, started at left guard vs. Valparaiso.
New Look Secondary
Four of the five starters in the secondary against Villanova made their starting debuts while three were appearing in a YSU game for the first time. The same five also started against Valparaiso.
The three first time Penguins were Stephon Hall (Pitt transfer), Kerion Martin (Marshall transfer) and Isaiah Hackett (UNLV transfer). Makai Shahid made his first career start after appearing in four games a year ago. Jaylen Castleberry has started nine straight games at cornerback.
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, Tyshon King, Michael Voitus, Devin Johnson and Logan Pasco. Williams and King are the offensive captains, Voitus and Johnson are the defensive captains and Pasco is the special teams captain.
Strong on Special Teams
The Penguins specialists are two of the most talented at the FCS level.
PK Andrew Lastovka, who was 17-of-20 on field-goal attempts in 2023, has made both of his attempts this season. He also is now YSU's kickoff specialist for the first time.
P Brendon Kilpatrick boomed a career-long punt of 65 yards in the opener at Villanova. He has five punts on the year and is averaging 42.6 per kick. Last year, Kilpatrick averaged 43.4 yards per punt which ranked second in a season in school history.
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 30-90.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 178-22-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 158-23 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 182-33 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 97-14-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 211-23 when leading entering the fourth.
• 95-3-2 holding opponents to 10 points-or-less.
Up Next:
The Penguins return to Pennsylvania to take on Pitt next Saturday. Kickoff at Acrisure Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m.
