On Saturday, Nov. 16, the UNI football team played the last road game of the season in Youngstown, Ohio, against Youngstown State. The Panthers came into the game with a 2-8 overall record, while the Penguins had a record of 3-8. The Panthers came in with an eight-game losing streak, but it looked like they might pull off the victory. In the end, however, it was the Penguins who took the victory in a close overtime battle.
The Penguins got off to a hot start in the game, scoring on their first two possessions of the game. It was their quarterback, Beau Brungard, who took both of the touchdowns in with his feet. The first was a 17-yard run and the second was a short 1-yard run. After giving up two scores early, the Panthers had their work cut out for them.
The offense struggled to get anything going most of the first half, but a missed Penguin field goal sparked the Panther offense. With only four minutes left in the half, the Panthers put together a 73-yard touchdown drive that ended in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Aidan Dunne to Desmond Hutson. The Panthers scored with almost no time left on the clock, so the score at the break was 14-7 in favor of the Penguins.
To start the second half, the Panthers built on the momentum they made going into the break. Dunne had a big 39-yard completion to Hutson that brought them deep into Penguin territory, and the drive was finished off with a Dunne touchdown pass to Lane Pryor. The Panthers tied the game up at 14.
On their next drive the Panthers were forced to punt the ball, but the ball was fumbled by the Penguin return man and recovered by UNI’s Dominic Sisneros. On the very next play, Tye Edwards was on the receiving end of Dunne’s third touchdown pass of the day. After being down 14-0 early, the Panthers were up 21-14 late in the third quarter.
It had been all Panthers for a while, when the Penguins went on a long drive. Late in the third quarter and into the fourth, they put together a 13-play touchdown drive. It was capped off by a Brungard touchdown pass to Cyrus Traugh. The game was back tied up at 21 with around eight minutes to go.
Things got crazy down the stretch. The Penguins took the lead back on a 51-yard field goal, and it was immediately followed up by a 97-yard kick return touchdown by the Panthers Sergio Morancy. The Panthers briefly led 28-24, but the Penguins quickly scored a touchdown to take back the lead with 1:14 left in the game. The Panthers had to get a field goal to take the game into overtime, and wasted no time getting into range. They nearly got into the endzone, but eventually had to settle for the field goal to send it into overtime at 31-31.
Both teams got a chance with the ball in overtime, getting the ball at the opposing 25-yard line. Edwards did all of the work for the Panthers, scoring on a 7-yard run. The Panthers kicked the extra point and took a 38-31 lead.
The Penguins had to work a bit harder on their drive, but Tyshon King eventually ran in for the score from 9 yards out. Instead of kicking the extra point to send the game into a second overtime, the Penguins chose to go for two. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Brungard completed a pass to tight end Austin Bray for the two point conversion. The two point conversion ended the game in heartbreaking fashion for the Panthers, losing 39-38.
The loss for the Panthers drops them to 2-9 on the season, and they now have one game left to play. They will finish up the season next Saturday, Nov. 23, where they will play host to Indiana State. The Panthers will be looking to end the year with the first conference win of the season, and hopefully send Coach Farley into retirement with one last victory.
