Preview: Mercyhurst at Youngstown State
If you’re from Western PA- even the part up in the northwest, next to a city called North East (I don’t know)- you know that Youngstown belongs. The name on the driver’s license might read “Ohio”, but we’re all one big family over here. In this context, you could think of round 1 for the Mercyhurst Lakers- and the Youngstown State Penguins- as an in-state matchup, absolutely ripe for a rivalry to develop. The Missouri Valley might play by a little bit of a different set of rules, but when the distance is this close, it’s hard not to think about what could be.
The Lakers are still in the midst of making a transition from Division II, of course, and that should color everything about this game. Even with the Penguins coming off of a disappointing season that saw them lose to Duquesne in a game that shouldn’t have even been as close as it was.
The Penguins have a mix of old and new this season. Out is old offensive coordinator Troy Rothenbuhler, who shipped over to Robert Morris, and in is former Penn State, Texas, and Oklahoma State OC Mike Yurcich. He has some familiarity with the NEC as he’s previously held the same position at Saint Francis. Yurcich has historically been an OC who pushes tempo, but when you’re taking a job as an OC, you should immediately expect to tailor your offense to the players on your roster unless you have years to establish yourself. So while we’ve got a coach who’s familiar with airing the ball out at close to a 50/50 split historically with the run, it starts with who the Penguins have and the immediate player you’ll notice is QB Beau Brungard. Brungard threw for 2141 but ran for 998. He’ll have to be considered the immediate threat on offense running or passing. Passing is no problem, either, because Max Tomczak is going to be among the nation’s best. They won’t stop with him, though, as they brought in a duo of wideouts from D2 Slippery Rock in Kylon Wilson and Mike Solomon. TC Caffery transferred in from Ohio State and is expected to contribute at tailback. Yurcich has brought plenty of optimism, but these kind of coordinator changes are rarely as easy as fans would hope and it’s possible they’ll still be working out the kinks against the Lakers.
Defensively, the big question mark for the Penguins is the defensive front and that’s probably a good fit for the Lakers, given the retooled offensive line they’ll be fielding. That should give Brian Trobel and Ayron Rodriguez some opportunities to pound the rock. The other big benefit is that it may give Adam Urena time to throw downfield. The YSU LB and DB rooms are solid, but the Lakers have as good of a QB and WR room as you could hope for given the loss of Cam Barmore to Arizona.
Beyond the line, there’s a mix of old and new offensively for the Penguins, defensively is primarily about the “new.” They return just 3 full-time starters but have some rotational pieces who should play bigger roles in 2025. NEC transfer Michalangelo Loretto (Robert Morris) signed with the Penguins but his eligibility status has been somewhat unclear and we’ll have to wait to see if he suits up on Saturday. Makai Shahid and DJ Harris are returning safeties for YSU who are tackling machines. The CB room was an open competition heading into fall camp, so hopefully this is a place the Lakers can exploit and go deep on the Penguins.
Coach Riemedio has said that the Lakers are excited to kickoff against a historic program like the Penguins. We can’t wait. This is the first game of the NEC season and comes up on Thursday evening. Christmas is just around the corner for NEC football fans.
