YOUNGSTOWN - Eric Wolford, the second-year coach of the Youngstown State football team, has felt all along that he and his coaches had the Penguins pointed in the right direction.
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder - Wolford's former boss - told him as much when the two spoke last Thursday.
"He said, 'Wolf, if you're that close in all those games, you're doing the right things. Just keep sawing wood. Just keep chopping and it's going to happen,' " Wolford said. "And what do you know? It happened on Saturday."
Two days after Snyder offered his former assistant words of encouragement, Wolford's Penguins proved the 72-year-old coach correct. YSU rallied for its first road victory in Wolford's two seasons, beating Southern Illinois, 35-23, at Memorial Stadium in Carbondale, Ill.
The victory made Wolford 6-11 in his two seasons with the Penguins. Nine of those losses have been by a total of 48 points. Seven of those defeats were by a touchdown or less and YSU had the lead at some point in all but one of those narrow defeats.
It was simply a matter of time.
"Quite frankly, we expected to win (at Southern Illinois)," he said. "We really did. I know some of you guys thought the season was over, but these team is going to fight and scrap. We've proven that time in and time out. I'll let you guys know when it's over, trust me."
YSU (3-3, 2-2 Missouri Valley Football Conference) hosts Saint Francis, Pa., at 4 p.m. on Saturday. It will be the first meeting between the Red Flash (1-6) and Penguins since 1953.
The Penguins are feeling much better about themselves today than they were a week ago after back-to-back losses to MVFC rivals Indiana State and South Dakota State and a trip to Carbondale looming.
Southern Illinois led YSU, 17-7, at halftime, but quarterback Kurt Hess threw touchdown passes to wide receivers Christian Bryan and Jelani Berassa and tailback Jamaine Cook ran for a touchdown in a 21-point third quarter as the Penguins took control.
YSU put the game away when cornerback Josh Lee recovered a Southern Illinois muffed punt in the end zone with 2:43 to play.
"(YSU punter) Nick Liste had a real good punt and the dude muffed it," Lee said. "I was slowing down because I didn't know what happened in the back end, but then I seen it and I seen Nate Schkurko run to it and I just jumped over him and landed on the ball in the end zone."
The victory was the Penguins' first away from Stambaugh Stadium since 2009.
"It's always good to win on the road," Lee said. "That's what championship teams have got to do. They've got to win on the road. You've always got to steal one."
Wolford said he considered Southern Illinois one of the top "two or three" teams in the MVFC when the season began.
"That's a good team," Wolford said. "You saw what they did against North Dakota State the week before."
On Oct. 8 in Carbondale, the Salukis held the undefeated Bison scoreless in the first half and without a touchdown until just 6:51 remained in the game. NDSU wound up winning, 9-3, but finished with just 210 total yards. YSU, with 464 yards against SIU, more than doubled that output.
Lee said the victory might be a turning point for the Penguins.
"Going into Southern Illinois (against) a tough team, away, and winning big like that, that's a major turning point for this team," he said.
As Wolford and Snyder both said, it was just a matter of time.
"All you can do is keep working hard and doing things right," Wolford said. "We're not doing things by the seat of our pants. We're not goofing around. We're not doing all the types of things that are distractions you have in college football. We don't have any of those.
"Our guys say, 'Yes, sir' and 'No, sir.' They work hard, they do things right and they're on time. Are they perfect? By no means, but they're doing things right."
And in Wolford's experience, programs that operate that way eventually enjoy success.
"I'm used to, when you have a program and you do things right, good things are going to happen. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, but it's going to happen."
epuskas@tribtoday.com
