No. 14 Youngstown State rode a big offensive effort to run away with a 65-20 win over Missouri State in the regular-season finale for both clubs Saturday afternoon at Robert W. Plaster Stadium. The Penguins (8-3, 6-2 MVFC) rushed for a Missouri State opponent record of 572 yards, while the YSU defense forced four MSU turnovers and limited the Bears to 272 yards of total offense in the commanding victory.
Led by Martin Ruiz’s 183 yards and three touchdowns, three Penguin rushers topped the 100-yard mark, as the visitors finished the day with 747 yards of total offense — just five yards short of the Missouri Valley Football Conference single-game mark for team offense.
YSU totaled 271 yards on the ground to build a 24-point halftime lead, then buried the Bears with 301 second-half rushing yards, thanks in large part to a career-best 190-yard effort by freshman Joe Alessi. In all, the Penguins registered nine offensive gains of at least 23 yards, including five different scoring runs of 50-plus yards.
YSU’s backfield tandem of Ruiz and Jody Webb led the early onslaught, combining for 269 rushing yards in the opening half, while Hunter Wells completed 14-of-15 passes for 147 yards to help the Penguins reach the end zone on five of their seven offensive possessions over the contest’s first 30 minutes.
Wells set the tone for the day with a 28-yard completion to Damoun Patterson on the game’s first play from scrimmage, before Webb carried five times for 19 yards to set up the first of Ruiz’s three touchdown runs that handed YSU an early 7-0 lead. Webb and Ruiz teamed up to ding the Bears on the visitor’s second drive of the day, totaling 68 rushing yards as part of an 11-play, 82-yard march that chewed up five minutes of clock time. Ruiz carried it in from one yard out after his 27-yard rush highlighted the possession.
The Penguins would only need two plays to add to their lead on their next drive after taking over at their own 37 on Derek Rivers’ fumble recovery. Webb reeled in an 11-yard catch from Wells, then broke free for the first of his two scoring runs of 50-plus yards.
After the 52-yard rush made it a 21-0 game, the Bears engineered a scoring drive of their own, using a 22-yard Brodie Lambert completion to Deion Holliman to set up Zach Drake’s 33-yard field goal with 10:38 to play in the half.
Ruiz flipped the field with a Plaster Field-record 94-yard scoring burst, negating a Drake punt that pinned the Penguins at their own 2 yard line moments earlier. That run set off a late scoring bonanza that saw the two clubs total 21 points in the final 5:49. MSU countered with a 63-yard scoring pass from Lambert to Zac Hoover on the next play from scrimmage to make it a 27-10 contest.
But the Penguins would cap their monster half with a methodical 78-yard push that would result in a four-yard Wells-to-Alvin Bailey scoring pass with just four seconds left on the clock. Wells went 7-of-7 for 76 yards on the drive, as YSU finished the half with 418 yards of total offense—or 32 more than their 2016 average of 385.7 yards per game.
The onset of the second half saw the YSU defense flex its collective muscle, as the Penguins turned a pair of MSU fumbles into touchdowns in the first four minutes of the third period. Webb ripped through the Bears defense for a 53-yard touchdown run, before a sack and corresponding 19-yard fumble return Kenny Bishop stretched the Penguin advantage to 48-10 with 11: 15 to go in the third.
Lambert hooked up with tight end Erik Furmanek on an 11-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter, momentarily drawing MSU to within 51-17. The TD toss—Lambert’s 21st as a Bear and 18th this season—moved the senior quarterback past Trevor Wooden (20110 into third place on MSU’s single-season list. Drake later booted his second field goal of the day to cap the MSU scoring, while Alessi added the sixth and seventh YSU rushing touchdowns of the afternoon, scoring from 61 and 75 yards out in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Wells also logged a standout performance for the Penguins without attempting a second-half pass, while Webb narrowly missed a career-high rushing effort with 166 yards and two touchdowns on his 15 carries.
Dylan Cole capped his four-year stint as a Bear with a game-high 16 tackles, surpassing John Harvey for third on the Bears’ career list with 457 for his MSU career. Lambert finished his MSU career by completing 18-of-34 for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Postgame Notes: Missouri State drew a total of 50,485 fans in its five home games at Plaster Stadium this fall, good for an average of 10,097, which ranks as the 12th-best single-season mark in program history … Martin Ruiz’s 94-yard TD run broke a Plaster Stadium record for the longest scoring run in the 75-year history of the facility; he eclipsed the 28-year-old mark of 90 yards, set by Western Kentucky’s Pedro Bacon on Oct. 15, 1988 …  With 237 all-purpose yards, Deion Holliman logged his fourth 100-yard game in kickoff returns this season and the ninth of his career; the junior also moved into the school’s top 15 for all-purpose yardage with 2,708 in just three collegiate seasons to date … With a game-high 16 stops, Dylan Cole completed his MSU career with his eighth-straight double-digit tackle total and his 15th in a row vs. MVFC competition … Brodie Lambert finished his MSU career tied with Derek Jensen (1995-98) for eighth on the Bears’ all-time TD passes list with the 20th and 21st scoring tosses of his career; his 251 career completions rank ninth in school history, as the Arlington, Texas native surpassed Frank Miller (246) with his 18 completions vs. YSU … YSU became the first MSU opponent to feature three different 100-yard rushers in a game since Arkansas accomplished the feat on Sept. 3, 2005.
