Youngstown State University
Valparaiso
Penguins Set to Entertain Valparaiso in 2024 Home Opener
9/3/2024 2:00:00 PM | Football
Youngstown State vs. Valparaiso
Sept. 7, 2024 | Stambaugh Stadium
Youngstown, Ohio | 2 p.m.
Broadcast Information
TV – ESPN+ (Drae Smith, Chris Sammarone)
Radio Network – 570 AM WKBN (Bob Hannon, Steve Leslie, Anthony Romo, Mike Orto)
Internet Radio – 570wbkn.iheart.com
App Audio - iHeartRadio App
Penguins
Record: 0-1
Last Game: at Villanova (L, 17-24)
Head Coach: Doug Phillips (Fifth Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @ysufootball
Beacons
Record: 0-1
Last Game: at UNI (L, 7-35)
Head Coach: Landon Fox (6th Season)
Series History
All-Time Series: YSU leads 4-0
In Youngstown: YSU leads 4-0
Win Streak: YSU, 4 games
Last Meeting: YSU 52-10 (2023)
| Opponent | Date | Location | Video | Audio | Live Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Saturday Sept. 7 | 2 PM |
Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, Ohio |
ESPN+ | 570 WKBN | Live Stats |
The No. 23 Youngstown State football team plays their 2024 home opener on Saturday against Valparaiso. 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 (0-1) are coming off a tough 24-17 loss at sixth-ranked Villanova last Thursday night. The Guins trailed 24-3 before surging into possession to possibly to the contest in the fourth quarter. YSU had three scoring drives of 10-plus yards and maintained control of the football for 36:12 of the contest.
The Wildcats took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Guins pulled within a touchdown when Andrew Lastovka made a 27-yard field goal capping off a 15-play march that took 9:47 off the clock. However, Villanova answered with a touchdown taking a 17-3 lead at halftime.
In the third, the Wildcats struck quickly to go in front 24-3, but YSU's defense settled in while the offense kept chipping away.
On fourth down, QB Beau Brungard threw his first career touchdown pass to WR Cyrus Traugh, who caught his first career scoring reception to cut the deficit to 14. In the fourth, Tyshon King powered in from a yard out and YSU was down 24-17 with 4:24 left.
The defense forced a three-and-out giving the Guins a chance to complete the rally with 2:27 remaining. YSU moved out to its 37-yard line, but Brungard was intercepted with 55 seconds remaining.
Valparaiso (0-1) is playing its second straight MVFC opponent after falling to UNI last Saturday. The Beacons suffered a 35-7 defeat to the Panthers in the UNI-Dome.
UNI jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the contest before Valparaiso pulled within two touchdowns on a one-yard touchdown run Mike Mansaray in the second quarter. The Panthers led 28-7 at halftime and added a third-quarter score for the final margin.
YSU has won the four previous meetings against the Beacons. In the four contests, the Penguins have outscored Valpo, 230-30. In the 2023 season opener at Stambaugh Stadium, the Guins picked up a 52-10 victory.
Last Year vs. Valparaiso
The Penguins opened the 2023 season with a strong 52-10 win over Valparaiso at Stambaugh Stadium. YSU led by just a touchdown at halftime before outscoring the Beacons 35-0 in the second half.
TB Tyson King scored two touchdowns while rushing for 111 yards on 11 carries. Mitch Davidson rushed and threw for a touchdown while Beau Brungard and Da'Shaun Whatley had rushing scores and Jaylen Castleberry returned a blocked punt for a TD.
King opened the scoring with a 62-yard run in the first quarter. Leading 7-3, the Guins scored the next 10 points before the Beacons closed within 17-10 at halftime after scoring a short TD in final minute.
The Penguins scored a school-record-tying 28 points in the third quarter to seize control. The momentum took a big swing when Michael Voitus blocked a punt and Castleberry returned it for a TD. Davidson and King added one-yard scores before Whatley scooted 54 yards for a touchdown.
Plenty of New Faces
Youngstown State's 2024 season-opening starting lineup featured 10 first-time starters with eight of those coming on the defensive side of the football.
Making their first career starts on offense were QB Beau Brungard and OG Shane Keenan.
The new-look defense had eight first-time staters against the Wildcats. Starting their first YSU game were DB Stephon Hall, CB Isaiah Hackett, DB Kerion Martin, DB Makai Shahid, LB Devin Johnson, LB Mike Wells, DT Jaelen Crider and DT Joe Brown. Half of those players were appearing in their first YSU game. DE Dawan Martin made his first start since the 2021 season in the contest as well.
Defense Shut Down the Pass
The Penguins allowed just six completions for 90 yards in the season opener at Villanova. The Wildcats had 75 of those yards come in the opening half.
Last season, YSU held two opponents to fewer than 100 yards passing - Southern Illinois (94) and Duquesne (74).
The six completions for the contest 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.
Time Of Possession Solid Again
The Guins, who ranked first in the FCS in time of possession averaging 35:06 per game in 2023, held the ball for 36:12 in the season-opening game at Villanova last Thursday.
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. The other scoring march was 5:18 and went for 80 yards.
First-time Score
WR Cyrus Traugh caught his first career touchdown pass on what was QB Beau Brungard's first career touchdown throw.
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.
The Wright Stuff
TB Ethan Wright was named the MVFC's Newcomer of the Week following his performance at Villanova.
Wright, a transfer from Cincinnati, had 90 all-purpose yards against the Wildcats. He finished the game with 63 yards rushing on 12 carries and added 27 yards on three receptions.
In 32 career games played at UC from 2020-23, he had 215 yards on 44 attempts and caught five passes for 44 yards.
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 regular-season finale.
On three occasions he was named the MVFC Newcomer of the Week for his efforts.
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 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 while Jaylen Castleberry started for the eight straight game.
Both LBs First-Time Starters
YSU started Devin Johnson and Mike Wells at linebacker vs. Villanova. It was the first career starts for both Penguins. Additionally, Logan Pasco and Preston Zandier saw extensive defensive action for the first time in their careers.
All four have seen a fair amount of action during their YSU careers. Johnson has played in 39 games, Pasco in 35 contests, Zandier in 23 and Wells in 16.
Williams Garners Multiple Preseason Accolades
Veteran OL Jaison Williams has been 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.
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 (40 starts), center Aidan Parker (38 starts), left guard David Metzler (31 starts) and left tackle Desmeal Leigh who started all 13 games at left tackle in 2023. The only starter lost is Ryan Johnson who is playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Van Keen filled in as starting center on two occasions a year ago.
Shane Keenan started at right guard replacing Johnson at Villanova last Thursday while Keen was called on for reserve duty.
Tomczak Stepped Up
WR Max Tomczak continued to build on his huge season from a year ago. 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 touchdowns.
For his career, he has 78 receptions for 1,032 yards and three scores.
Transfers to Make Impact
The Guins will look to a group of transfers to step in and contribute this fall.
Prior to the season, YSU added Stephon Hall (Pittsburgh), Isaiah Hackett (UNLV), Ethan Wright (Cincinnati), Richard Dandridge (Temple), Kerion Martin (Marshall), Carston Marshall (Iowa State), Brady Shannon (UCF), Jace Tutty (Penn State), Jeremiah Robinson (Southern Miss), Dathan Hickey (Yale), DJ Harris(Tiffin), Jawon Hall (Slippery Rock), Jabarrek Hopkins (Marshall), Cole Parvin (Campbell), Payton Edwards (Indiana State), Matt Reardon (Miami, Ohio), Mason Ludwig (Toledo), Andrew Jacobs (Charlotte), Austin Bray (UT-Martin), Tyler Bukur (Marian, Ind.) and Joe Brown (Northern Colorado).
Strong on Special Teams
The Penguins specialists picked up right where they left off last year.
At Villanova, Andrew Lastovka made a 27-yard field goal while punter Brendon Kilpatrick boomed a career-long 65-yard punt. He averaged 55.0 yards on his two punts
Last year, Kilpatrick averaged 43.4 yards per punt which ranked second in a season in school history. YSU's average of 43.4 yards a kick eclipsed the school record of 43.3 (2013).
Lastovka made 17-of-20 field -goal attempts in his first season.
Numbers of Note
• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, YSU is 157-48 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.
• 157-23 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 181-33 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 97-14-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 210-23 when leading entering the fourth.
• 95-3-2 holding opponents to 10 points-or-less.
• YSU is 21-6 when a back rushes for more than 200 yards in a game.
Up Next:
YSU will entertain Duquesne next Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
