It was the Beau Brungard show yet again in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday.
Brungard finished 20-of-25 passing for 226 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also had 22 carries for 143 yards and three scores as the Youngstown State football team held on to beat Northern Iowa 35-32 to close the regular season.
“You just have confidence when the ball’s in his hands,” YSU head coach Doug Phillips said. “He’s gonna make great decisions with it, has the ability at any time to take it to the house.”
It was the Penguins’ first win in the UNI-Dome since 1999, and it put the Penguins in good position to make the FCS playoffs. It was also Phillips’ first win in a dome since taking over the program in 2020.
“I definitely didn’t tell our kids that this week,” Phillips said. “But anytime you go on the road in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, they’re playing for a lot. (The Panthers) are playing for an identity in the offseason.
“Northern Iowa, a great program with great tradition. Coach (Todd) Stepsis, in his first year, we knew that it’d be a battle. … We gotta come out and play two halves.”
Brungard started the game with 12 straight completions for 130 yards, and he had the offense clicking to start the game.
The Penguins (8-4, 5-3 Missouri Valley Football Conference) got on the board first after Kylon “Flash” Wilson started the game with a 41-yard kick return, setting up the offense at the YSU 48-yard line. Brungard capped the five-play drive with a 7-yard touchdown run up the middle.
Then it was time for the YSU defense to step up.
The Panthers (3-9, 1-7 MVFC) were driving on their first possession. They got down to the YSU 13, but linebacker Mike Wells and defensive back DJ Harris met UNI running back Bill Jackson around the 10-yard line. Harris held Jackson up while Wells ripped the ball out for a forced fumble and recovery.
YSU took over at its 9-yard line, and Brungard got the Penguins out of the shadow of their end zone with a 49-yard pass down the right sideline to Wilson. After a short pass, Brungard added his second TD run when he found a crease off the left side of the offensive line for a 29-yard scamper, putting YSU up 14-0 with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
UNI drove down the field again, but the Penguin defense bent, but didn’t break. The Panthers had to settle for a 40-yard field goal from Max Bartachek to get on the board with 49 seconds to play in the first quarter.
During YSU’s next possession, a 5-yard, fourth-down slant pass from Brungard to Wilson kept the drive alive and reset the Penguins at the UNI 32.
Two plays later, Brungard escaped to his right. He looked to run, but tight end Alex McDonald sprinted up the sideline. Brungard found him just in front of the right pylon for a 12-yard touchdown pass to extend YSU’s lead to 21-3 with 10:27 remaining in the second quarter.
Later in the second quarter, Lakeview graduate Brendon Kilpatrick was brought on for his first punt of the game. He pinned the Panthers inside of their 1-yard line.
The Penguins got a three-and-out, and after a punt, took over at the 50. Brungard weaved his way through the UNI defense for a 32-yard run to the Panthers’ 6. Two plays later, Brungard scrambled to his left for a 7-yard score, his third rushing touchdown, to make it a 28-3 game with 53 seconds to play before halftime.
Brungard finished the first half 14-of-15 passing for 146 yards and a touchdown. He ran it 11 times for 89 yards and three scores. He led a Penguin attack that amassed 279 yards of total offense in the first half.
However, the Penguins found out that the Panthers had a lot of fight left.
Coming out of the locker room, Jackson broke a 64-yard catch-and-run to put the Panthers at the YSU 25. The Panthers cut the YSU lead to 28-10 when Jaxon Daily found JC Roque Jr. in the right corner of the end zone for a 6-yard TD pass.
After a YSU punt, the Panthers drove down the field on a 12-play, 87-yard drive. Harrison Bey-Buie punched it in on a 1-yard touchdown run, and Dailey and Roque hooked up again for a two-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 28-18 with 5:15 left in the third quarter.
But the Penguins responded.
Brungard opened the next drive with a 24-yard run, and a 50/50 ball went for a 37-yard pass down the right sideline to Tomczak, putting the Penguins in scoring position. YSU increased its lead to 35-18 when Brungard flipped the ball out to running back Ethan Wright, who broke a pair of tackles for a 3-yard touchdown reception.
UNI countered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive. Bey-Buie scored from 2 yards out to keep the Panthers within striking distance and made it a 35-25 game with 13:20 to play.
After a failed fourth-down attempt by YSU, UNI made it a one-score game — 35-32 with 6:31 left in the fourth — when Dailey threw a 34-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to Roque, who was in the middle of two YSU defenders.
After another YSU punt, Jackson put the Panthers in good position after he caught a screen pass and went 27 yards to the YSU 48. But a sack by Graydon Rollins and Carston Marshall made it a third-and-16, and Marshall came up to make the tackle on a short throw on fourth down to give the ball back to the Penguin offense.
“The growth Carston has made, and I’m talking just as a young man, handling the emotions of a game and knowing we weren’t playing really good, but he came and made two great plays on that last drive,” Phillips said. “And that’s being in the moment, that’s being focused.”
Brungard ran it three times and picked up the first down to allow YSU to run out the clock.
“Second half, they came out, attacked. We weren’t quite ready to execute at the level that we did at the first half,” Phillips said. “Those things can happen, but we found a way there. Under four minutes, find a way, and the defense got us the ball back.
The FCS selection show will be televised on ESPNU at noon today. YSU was vying to host a playoff game in the first round.
It would be YSU’s first playoff game and potentially their first home playoff game since 2023.
“We’ll clean up this game,” Phillips said. “Evaluate and see where we need to get better, and definitely take a deep look into that second half. Then at noon, I think we have a show in the team room to see how the bracket plays out. For us, it’s an exciting day.”
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