Youngstown, Ohio – The Youngstown State football team's season ended after a 43-42 loss to Yale in the first round of the 2025 NCAA FCS playoffs on Saturday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Penguins finish the season with an overall mark of 8-5 while Yale improves 10-1 and advances to face No. 2 seeded Montana State, Saturday, Dec. 6, in Bozeman, Mt.
Junior quarterback Beau Brungard accounted for six touchdowns and passed for 317 yards on 23-for-35 passing and three touchdowns. He also ran for 90 yards and three rushing scores.
Brungard also broke the YSU single-season passing yards, completions and attempts records of 3,052, 256, and 368 set by Mitch Davidson in 2023. The New Middletown, Ohio, native finished the season with 3,234 yards on 277-of-403 passing attempts.
Flash Wilson led the Penguins with nine receptions and 102 yards while Max Tomczak had six catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns. It marked the first time two YSU players had more than 100 yards receiving in the same game since Sept. 16, 2023.
Youngstown State's defense forced three turnovers that led to 21 points and helped the Penguins to a 35-7 lead at halftime.
The Penguins jump out to an early 7-0 lead on the game's opening possession. Brungard hit Tomczak on a 23-yard touchdown pass at the 11:35 mark. Brungard went 4-for-4 for 81 yards through the air and rushed for 11 yards on the drive.
On Yale's first possession, Dayne Hodge recorded his second interception of the year to set up the Penguins second score. Brungard capped a 55-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown run to put the Penguins up 14-0 with 6:17 in the first.
Justin Wimpye picked off Yale quarterback Dante Reno and returned it 11 yards to Yale 19. Brungard found Tomczak for the second time on a six-yard touchdown pass for a 21-0 lead with 10:40 mark of the second.
The Bulldogs cut the Penguins lead back to 14, 21-7, after Josh Pitsenberger capped a seven-play, 66-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run with 7:38 remaining before halftime.
On the next YSU possession, Brungard hit Tomczak for a 23-yard gain, rushed for 20, and found Jaden Gilbert on a 31-yard pass to the Yale one. Brungard capped the 75-yard drive with a one-yard scoring plunge to regain a three-touchdown lead, 28-7, with 6:10 left in the in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs drove to the YSU 12 looking to cut the lead in half, but Hodge recovered Carsten Marshall's strip sack fumble at the YSU 21 and returned the ball 44 yards to the Yale 35 with just 1:12 to play before halftime.
Brungard's third rushing touchdown of the game, a six-yard scamper, put the Penguins up 35-7, with 16 seconds left.
The teams traded touchdowns to open the second half before the Bulldogs scored 29 straight points to take its first lead of the game late in the fourth quarter.
Yale opened the second half with a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by a four-yard scoring strike from Reno to Spencer Mermans.
On the Penguins first play of the third quarter, Gilbert broke loose for a 60-yard run to the Yale 15-yard line. After a Yale offside penalty and a three-yard run, Brungard connected on a seven-yard touchdown pass, their third scoring connection of the game, to extend the YSU lead to 42-14 with 7:37 remaining in the third quarter.
Yale trimmed the YSU lead to 20 points, 42-22, after a one-yard touchdown run by Pitsenberger and a successful two-point conversion with 2:41 left in the third.
The Bulldogs defense forced a fumble on YSU's next play and recovered the ball at the YSU 37. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Reno connected with Lucius Anderson on an 11-yard touchdown pass to get within 13, 42-29, with 14:54 left in the game.
After the Penguins missed a field goal, Yale converted a pair of fourth downs on a 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive capped by a four-yard touchdown pass from Reno to Graham Smith to get within six, 42-36.
The Penguins were forced to punt and on the Bulldogs' first play on the ensuing possession, Pitsenberger, who rushed for 209 yards raced 56 yards for his third touchdown of the game to take a 43-42 lead with 2:47 to go.
