One might say Youngstown State borrowed the pages of different teams in sending Eastern Washington down to yet another bitter defeat in the semifinal round of the Football Championship Subdivision Dec. 17 at frigid Roos Field. The Penguins’ 40-38 victory on a 5-yard pass play — a one-handed catch by tight end Kevin Rader from Hunter Wells with one second left — put YSU in the title game Jan. 7 at Frisco, Texas against James Madison.
Rader’s grab came with unintended assistance from Eastern defender Ketner Kupp whose back provided the means to call it a good catch in the eyes of replay officials who agreed the receiver had possession as the two fell to the icy turf. “The officials ruled it a catch and they reviewed it and ruled it a catch,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said. “I couldn’t tell — I couldn’t call it from my vantage point, put it that way.”
Eastern lost its 11-game winning streak and finished 12-2. Youngstown improved to 12-3, and is now 2-0 versus Eastern in semifinal games, having won 25-14 in Spokane’s Joe Albi Stadium in 1997.
YSU reprised this finish, which was similar to two other previous heartbreaking playoff losses for the Eagles in Cheney.
One came in 2004 when Sam Houston rallied in a quarterfinal game to win 35-34 — after the Eagles led by 20 points. The second was more recent, in 2013 when Towson University scored with 17 seconds to play to beat Eastern 35-31, erasing a 10-point Eagle lead in the final 5:09.
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