Oct. 31—YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — For three and a half quarters Saturday, the UND football team’s Halloween costume at Stambaugh Stadium was a pretty convincing one. The Fighting Hawks were dressed like a Top 8 seed in the FCS playoffs.
In the final moments, though, the Penguins pulled the mask off the Fighting Hawks.
Advertisement
Star quarterback Beau Brungard connected with Lynn Wyche-El for a 20-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-19 with 2 minutes, 4 seconds left as No. 4 Youngstown State beat No. 9 UND 31-28 at the Ice Castle.
“We’ve got to find a way to close the door, and we just haven’t been able to do that, honestly, for the last two years,” UND coach Eric Schmidt said. “I’ve got to do a better job here just figuring this out with our guys. I just really believe that you put yourself in position enough to be able to win and have those those opportunities that sooner or later we’re going to punch that door down.”
The loss drops the Fighting Hawks to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, while the Penguins improved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the MVFC.
The Hawks, who led 21-7 at halftime, close the regular season with home games against Illinois State and Southern Illinois. UND has played six of the last eight games on the road. The Hawks are 2-3 on the road and 4-0 in the Alerus Center.
Advertisement
“Hard to put into words,” UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski said. “You work so hard for these opportunities. To come out and start fast and not close it out, it sucks.”
Youngstown State’s game-winning drive was fueled by a fake punt.
The Hawks punted the ball to the Penguins with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Facing fourth-and-4 from the 20, the Penguins ran a fake punt with Mike Wells rushing 26 yards for a first down.
“I think we have to do a better job of having some guys off the ball that can react to (the fake),” Schmidt said. “That’s a huge play. I’d have to go back and look at it to know what exactly the formation was and where we were at.”
Advertisement
Youngstown State’s next play was a Beau Brungard 33-yard pass to Fresh Walters as Youngstown approached the red zone.
After a holding call negated a touchdown pass on fourth-and-9, the Penguins let Brungard — the reigning Walter Payton Award winner — stick in the pocket and find Wyche-El open in the end zone. Wyche-El finished with six catches for 148 yards and three touchdowns.
Brungard ended 19-for-29 passing for 268 yards. He ran 15 times for 64 yards.
“I’ll have to watch it back and film,” UND edge Lance Rucker said of fourth-and-19. “There’s a lot of stuff we have to learn from.”
Advertisement
After YSU’s go-ahead touchdown, Kaminski was flagged for intentional grounding on first down and the Hawks never got back to the original line of scrimmage. Kaminski was picked off on fourth-and-long to end the game.
“It stings and hurts,” said UND running back Matt Lawson, who finished with 99 rushing yards. “It’s hard to win, especially on the road, but we’re built for that. We’re going to focus on that and come back stronger.”
