By William Staten / The Jambar
Over two years ago, on Sept. 14, 2024, the Youngstown State University football team fell to Duquesne University at Stambaugh Stadium. Last week on Sept. 12, the Penguins made their comeback with a 70-13 win against the Dukes at the Ice Castle.
In 2024, then-junior Beau Brungard threw for 193 yards and one interception in the 28-25 loss to the Dukes. Then-junior Max Tomczak led the team in receiving yards with 62 yards on five receptions. Tomczak signed with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League on April 25 before being waived Aug. 30.
Now a fifth-year senior, Brungard completed eight touchdown drives in a row before the quarterback and other starters were pulled in the middle of the third quarter. Brungard scored six passing and two rushing touchdowns.
Brungard, who was the Walter Payton Award recipient in 2025, said the 2024 loss to the Dukes remained on his mind going into the game.
“Thinking back to playing them here and letting that one slip away, we still had it on our minds coming into today,” Brungard said. “That was the only thing we were thinking about — getting some redemption from two years ago.”
Senior Lynn Wyche-El emerged as the leading receiver for the Penguins with 18 receptions for 229 yards and four touchdowns. Wyche-El transferred from Division II Grand Valley State University after a 2025 campaign where the receiver caught 38 passes for 581 yards and five touchdowns.
Brungard scored seven touchdowns in one half, which tied a NCAA record set by Neil Lomax of Portland State University in 1980. The quarterback was also on pace to break the all-time single-game touchdown record at 11, set by David Klinger of the University of Houston in 1990, before he was pulled and replaced by sophomore Malachi Lewis.
Head coach Doug Phillips said that he was focused on the big picture when making the decision to take Brungard out of the game.
“You also have to look at the big picture and what we have coming down the road,” Phillips said. “You gotta have faith in your backups. … I can see Malachi Lewis go in and be able to run the offense.”
Lewis completed eight of his nine passes, and threw a touchdown to sophomore Max Welter, which marked the first career touchdown for both players.
Youngstown State’s defense held Duquesne’s quarterbacks to eight completions on 25 throws for 89 total passing yards. On third down, the Dukes converted three times out of 14.
Fifth-year senior Thomas Jolly said the goal was to dishearten the other team by getting the ball back in the hands of the ’Guins.
“It’s demoralizing to … an offensive team,” Jolly said. “The offense doesn’t even want to be there after halftime.”
Jolly also said that Brungard’s level of play was eye opening from his time at GVSU when he transferred to Youngstown State in 2025.
“Beau’s a different type of person. Getting here last year and being able to practice against Beau was almost like a wake-up call from my last school,” Jolly said. “It was almost like a different speed of the game to adjust to how fast Beau is. When you get to a game, nobody is about to be as fast as [jersey number] 12.”Brungard broke the Youngstown State program record for touchdown passes in a game with six. The record was previously held by Kurt Hess and Demeatric Crenshaw with five. The No. 9 Penguins begin conference play on the road against No. 2 South Dakota State University at 7 p.m., Sept. 19, before returning home to face the University of South Dakota on Sept. 26.