YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State needed just 12 seconds to seize control of its Homecoming game on Saturday night, and the Penguins never gave it back. Donald Barksdale returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, Youngstown State scored the first 28 points of the game, and the sixth-ranked Penguins held on for a 35-22 win over No. 19 Northern Iowa at Stambaugh Stadium.
The win was Youngstown State’s fourth straight and its third this season over a ranked opponent. The Penguins improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, while Northern Iowa fell to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play after its late rally ran out of time.
After Barksdale’s return, Northern Iowa drove to the Youngstown State five-yard line but missed a 23-yard field goal, and the Penguins made the Panthers pay. Youngstown State marched 80 yards in 11 plays, with Antuan Gardner breaking a 23-yard run to the two before plunging in for a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.
The Penguins kept pouring it on. A second 80-yard drive ended with Beau Brungard finding Lynn Wyche-El on a 42-yard touchdown strike for 21-0 early in the second quarter, and after a defensive three-and-out, Brungard capped a 70-yard, 12-play drive with a one-yard scoring run to make it 28-0 with 7:24 left before halftime.
Brungard, the Penguins’ senior quarterback, delivered another complete performance, completing 23 of 27 passes for two touchdowns while rushing for 80 yards and another score. Wyche-El led the receivers with eight catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and the defense did its part, with Roderick Owens Jr. making 11 tackles, Carston Marshall adding 10, and the unit recording three sacks.
Northern Iowa refused to fold. The Panthers scored on their final drive of the first half and their first drive of the second half to trim the margin to 28-13, then added a 45-yard field goal after a personal foul on a punt return set them up at the Youngstown State 37, pulling within 28-16.
Youngstown State answered the way it had all night. A 12-play, 75-yard drive that featured two third-down conversions ended on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Brungard connected with Bryan Hunt on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 14:59 remaining to restore a 35-16 cushion.
Northern Iowa added one more touchdown with 4:03 to go, but its two-point conversion failed, and the Penguins closed the door in the final minute. Facing fourth-and-9 from the Northern Iowa 24 with 1:10 left, Brungard hit Wyche-El for 15 yards, and Youngstown State ran out the clock. The Penguins are idle next week and return to Stambaugh Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 31, to host No. 11 North Dakota at noon.
