Demond Tidwell's 9-yard touchdown pass to Renauld Ray with eight minutes left Saturday lifted Youngstown State to a 10-9 victory over McNeese State for the Penguins' fourth Division I-AA championship this decade.
Youngstown State (13-2) also won the title in 1991, '93 and '94. The Penguins claimed their fourth crown Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn., under coach Jim Tressel with patience, defense and just enough offense at the right time.With McNeese leading 9-3 early in the fourth quarter and the Cowboys driving into Youngstown territory, things looked bleak for the Penguins.
But Penguin linebacker Jeff Fackrell intercepted Blake Prejean's pass at the Youngstown 34 and it lit a fire under the dormant Penguins offense.
After the interception, Tidwell, who completed 11-of-20 passes for 110 yards, drove the Penguins 66 yards in nine plays for the winning points. The drive accounted for a third of Youngstown's total offense of 200 yards in the game.
The game, McNeese's first appearance in the championship, was the Cowboys' to lose for much of the day. From a 3-3 halftime tie the Cowboys (13-2) got field goals of 37 and 46 yards by Shonz LaFrenz to take a 9-3 lead with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
NAIA championship
At Savannah, Tenn., Bo Hurley threw for one touchdown and ran 60 yards for another as Findlay of Ohio beat Willamette 14-7 Saturday for the Oilers' fifth NAIA championship in five trips.
Findlay (14-0) won the first unified title since 1970 by taking advantage of Willamette playing without its starting quarterback. Chuck Pinkerton broke his right leg last week, and Jay Douglass made only the second start of his career.
Willamette (13-1) stayed on the ground in the first half, but the Bearcats decided to throw after Hurley broke a 7-7 tie in the third quarter with his TD run.
The Oilers responded by sacking Douglass five times, and he was intercepted by Steve Adams with four seconds left, sealing the victory.