From the Sioux City Journal
http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/football/college/usd/late-score-lifts-no-youngstown-state-past-coyotes/article_c1e8df83-a1e9-5ee9-b2ba-14e66b43331d.html
VERMILLION, S.D. | In a back-and-forth contest that went to the final gun, Youngstown State dealt the decisive blow, scoring with 14 seconds remaining to clip South Dakota 38-34 Saturday at the DakotaDome.
It took all the 10th-ranked Penguins had to avoid an upset by South Dakota in the emotional Missouri Valley Football Conference game played in front of 6,676 fans.
Martin Ruiz scored on a 3-yard run with 14 ticks left, capping a 74-yard drive after USD’s Jordan Roberts burst up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown with 2:14 remaining, putting his team in front 38-34.
A costly personal foul penalty for a late hit on USD’s Aaron Swift aided the Penguins on the winning march. Quarterback Kurt Hess fired a 15-yard strike to Bryan Christian to the 3-yard line with 27 seconds remaining and after a spike to stop the clock, Ruiz slipped into the end zone and put a dagger in the Coyotes’ heart.
Ruiz, a freshman, rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns while Hess completed 22 of 26 passes (283 yards) as the Penguins racked up 517 yards of offense against one of the top defenses in the country. USD entered the contest ranked No. 2 nationally in the Football Championship Subdivision in pass defense and were fifth in total defense.
Youngstown State, now 8-1 overall, moved to 5-0 in the MVFC for the first time in school history. The loss was the first at home this season for the Coyotes, now 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
“This was a good football team we played and we just couldn’t find an answer for them on defense,” South Dakota Coach Joe Glenn said. “They just had too many weapons and it all starts at quarterback, that guy is phenomenal and he was the difference in the game.
“They did run some dives we couldn’t stop and that’s disappointing because they ran that about 42 times on us last year. I give them a lot of credit, they execute really, really well. But we were disappointed in some of our execution, we just didn’t get the dive shut down.”
Jody Webb raced 42 yards up the middle on an aforementioned dive play in the third quarter as YSU went in front 31-27 after erasing an eight-point deficit with 11:14 left in the game.
And, even though the Coyotes answered with a go-ahead touchdown drive of 66 yards, two minutes was too much time to give an experienced quarterback like Hess.
“We do a two-minute drill each week and I normally give our team a minute and 16, put us all the way backed up all the time and I give them one time out and say we need a touchdown,” Youngstown State Coach Eric Wolford said. “So I walked in the huddle and lightened it up a little bit and said ‘boys, we have 2:07 left here today, so that’s like an eternity from that minute, 16 I usually give you and we need to go get seven. We had a little fun with it and the kids got a smile. They think I’m half nuts most of the time anyway.
“Obviously this is a compliment to our coaching staff and kids for perservering. We felt like we kind of had control of the game except for the self-inflicted turnovers and botched extra points.
“We’re fortunate to come in here and get a win. Coach Glenn has done a great job of changing this program, you can see the passion in the kids. We appreciated the crowd, it was a great atmosphere and you can see why it’s a tough place to play.”
The lead changed hands nine times, including two in the final three minutes.
The winning drive was Youngstown State’s fifth of 67 yards or more. The Penguins, though, had all kinds of problems on conversions, missing an extra point kick, mishandling an extra point snap and failing on a pair of two-point tries. They also lost three fumbles, which led to two USD touchdowns and a field goal.
South Dakota’s Kevin Earl passed for 219 yards and two touchdowns. An 11-yarder to former starting quarterback Josh Vander Maten midway through the third quarter gave the Coyotes a 27-19 lead.
Hess, though, drew the Penguins within 27-25 on a 3-yard pass to Michael Wheary on fourth down with 1:08 left in the third quarter. Hess also threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Webb for the game’s first touchdown and scored on a 3-yard run.
The Coyotes sacked Hess four times – one each by Keyen Lage, Drew Iddings, Tyler Starr and Emilious Davis – but the veteran signal-caller completed passes to nine different receivers.
Youngstown State’s balanced offensive ledger included 283 passing and 234 rushing yards.
USD’s Trevor Bouma, playing at less than 100 percent because of a bad back, nonetheless carried 16 times for 76 yards. Roberts was carried off the field after sustaining what looked to be a serious knee injury, but returned to score the go-ahead touchdown.
True freshman Riley Donovan had 103 receiving yards, becoming the first Coyote to record three consecutive 100-yard performances since Dan Skelly in 2008. Miles Bergner, another freshman, connected on field goals of 39 and 40 yards, the latter with 1:20 left in the first half to give his team a 20-19 lead.
“This loss is one of the toughest because it’s more than likely going to knock us out of the playoffs,” Starr said. “We should have won the game. We had multiple chances to win it but the defense didn’t play very well. The offense was putting points on the board and that’s all we could ask for.”
The Coyotes are home again Saturday, hosting nationally-ranked Montana in a non-conference game at 1 p.m.
Youngstown State 38, USD 34
Youngstown State 7 12 6 13 -- 38
South Dakota 3 17 7 7 -- 34
First Quarter
USD: FG Miles Bergner 39, 4:49
YSU: Jody Webb 40 pass from Kurt Hess (Joey Cejudo kick) 1:39
Second Quarter
USD: Kevin Earl 17 run (Bergner kick) 13:17
YSU: Hess 4 run (kick failed) 8:56
USD: Kayl Barkley 9 pass from Earl (Bergner kick) 8:03
YSU: Martin Ruiz 6 run (run failed) 5:13
USD: FG Bergner 40, 1:20
Third Quarter
USD: Josh Vander Maten 11 pass from Earl (Bergner kick) 6:10
YSU: Michael Wheary 3 pass from Hess (pass failed) 1:08
Fourth Quarter
YSU: Webb 42 run (pass failed) 11:14
USD: Jordan Roberts 11 run (Bergner kick) 2:14
YSU: Ruiz 3 run (Cejudo kick) :14
TEAM STATISTICS
YSU USD
First downs 25 24
Rushes-yards 51-234 36-159
Passing yards 283 229
Passes 22-27-0 17-32-0
Total plays-yards 78-517 68-388
Fumbles-lost 3-3 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-69 8-60
Punts-avg. 2-41.5 6-39.5
Possession time 34:04 25:56
3rd down conversions 9-15 6-14
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Youngstown State – Martin Ruiz 23-131, Jody Webb 5-64, Demond Hymes 7-18, Andre Stubbs 3-17, Carson Sharbaugh 1-4, Kurt Hess 12-0. South Dakota – Trevor Bouma 16-76, Kevin Earl 8-33, Jordan Roberts 9-29, Josh Vander Maten 1-10, Terrance Terry 1-6, Nick Meyer 1-5.
PASSING: Youngstown State – Kurt Hess 22-26-0—283. South Dakota – Kevin Earl 16-31-0—219, Josh Vander Maten 1-1-0—10.
RECEIVING: Youngstown State – Marcel Carver 5-43, Christian Bryan 4-52, Michael Wheary 4-42, Jody Webb 2-52, Martin Ruiz 2-19, Carson Sharbaugh 2-14, Jacob Wood 1-49, Andrew Williams 1-14, Andre Stubbs 1-(-2). South Dakota – Riley Donovan 4-103, Josh Vander Maten 3-29, Nick Meyer 2-36, Kayl Barkley 2-22, Terrance Terry 2-15, Jordan Roberts 2-10, Tyler Wilhelm 1-10, Trevor Bouma 1-4.