University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Youngstown State
UNI football: Panthers to take on Penguins on Senior Day
11/20/2025 9:37:00 AM | Football
UNI Panther football hosts Youngstown State to wrap up the 2025 season.
UNI Panthers (3-8 / 1-6 MVFC) vs Youngstown State (7-4 / 4-3 MVFC)
- 1 p.m. CT | November 22, 2025
- Youngstown, Ohio | UNI-Dome
- ESPN+ (Mark Simpson: Play-by-Play, Justin Surrency: Analyst)
- Panther Sports Radio Network | (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Scott Peterson: Analyst)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The Panthers wrap up the 2025 season on November 22 inside the McLeod Center against the Youngstown State Penguins. This will be the 37th all-time matchup between these two teams with UNI leading the series 26-10 and 16-3 in Cedar Falls. These teams faced off in Ohio last season in a contest that was UNI's first overtime matchup since 2019. The Panthers got the ball first and scored on their first possession, but Youngstown State scored and went for two to end the game and converted, taking home a 39-38 victory.
In that matchup last season, Tysen Kershaw was the lone current Panther starter to record any stats. He finished with one reception for eight yards. That contest saw Jonathan Cabral-Martin lead the Cats with 11 total tackles. Tucker Langenberg and Ethan Schoville recorded one TFL each against the Penguins.
UNI is coming off a 48-16 loss to No. 1 North Dakota State in the Panthers' final road matchup of the season. In that matchup, Jaxon Dialey finished with nine completions for 99 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Harrison Bey-Buie led the rush game with nine carries for 62 yards. JC Roque Jr. posted 42 yards and a touchdown on three receptions. On the defensive side of the ball, Ryan Crandall led the Panthers with nine tackles including six solo. Owen Ostroski had a 2.5-TFL, two-sack game.
The 2025 season marked the first time since 1982 that the Panthers were winless on the road after the loss.
Caleb Frazer's safety in the second quarter was UNI's first safety since 2023 when a bobbled snap in the endzone by the Western Illinois punter resulted in two points for the Cats. The last time a UNI defender caused a safety was in 2021 when Bryce Flater took down an Eastern Washington Eagle in the endzone for the points.
After his first punt of the day, Noah Pettinger broke into UNI's top-10 in career punt yards. Pettinger sits in 10th with 6,075 punt yards after passing Dan Rush's (1987-90) 5,763 career punt yards. Pettinger is just 479 shy of Clay Netusil's (1984-86) 6,554 career yards.
In the third quarter, John Powers recorded the first blocked kick of his career on an NDSU punt. The block led to Ethan Schoville's first punt return touchdown and UNI's first of the season. The last time a punt was returned to the house was last season against Indiana State by Sergio Morancy.
UNI has now blocked six kicks on the season, tied for the fifth-most in UNI history.
Isaiah Pinks forced the first fumble of his career on a kickoff return that looked like it was bound for the endzone. AJ Vaughn picked up the first fumble recovery of his young career on the play.
Isaiah Pinks recorded a career-high eight total tackles in the matchup.
The Cats claimed their first Valley victory of the season inside the UNI-Dome against Murray State on November 8. UNI was victorious by a 31-14 final while Bill Jackson finished with 143 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. Jaxon Dailey was 8-11-0 with 133 passing yards and a touchdown to leading receiver JC Roque Jr. who finished with 50 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. On the defensive side of the ball, Tucker Langenberg finished with a game-high 12 total tackles. Kolben Miller was in double-figures with 10 including 1.5 tackles for a loss of five yards as well as a pass break up, that led to an interception by Calvin Jaworski, and a QB hurry.
The Panther special teams unit has had a knack for blocking kicks in 2025. This season, the Panthers have blocked SIX kicks, including two field goals (Jaylen Pettus and Malik Stewart) and four punts (Braden McShane, Anthony Isley, Calvin Jaworski, and John Powers). The Cats blocked two punts against Southern Illinois on October 25. The last time UNI blocked two KICKS in the same game was in 2017 when Adam Reth blocked a pair of field goals. The last time UNI blocked two PUNTS was in 2014 when Tate Omli and De'angelo Jennings each blocked a Redbird boot.
The Panther team sits amongst the top-25 in FCS football in a number of statistical categories, including blocked kicks (2nd - 6), blocked punts (5th - 4), fewest fumbles lost (23rd - 4), kickoff return defense (25th - 18.44), and red zone defense (25th - 76.3%). UNI's blocked kicks and blocked punts lead the MVFC while the Cats are second in the Valley in 4th-down conversion percentage (42.9%) and red zone defense.
Individually, Ethan Schoville became one of just 41 FCS players and one of just three MVFC players to record a punt-return touchdown on the season after a blocked punt by John Powers was recovered in the endzone against No. 1 NDSU. Schoville is ranked sixth in the nation with his punt return TD. Ryan Crandall is 20th in the FCS with 5.0 solo tackles per game. The linebacker is second in the league with 1.0 TFLs per game, third in solo tackles per game, and fourth with 9.1 total tackles per game. After a pair of sacks against No. 1 NDSU, Owen Ostroski is fifth in the league with 0.45 sacks per game.
The Panthers return 100% of quarterback play from the 2024 season. Matthew Schecklman and Aidan Dunne return to the Panther squad for another season following a year that saw 2,231 passing yards and 16 passing touchdowns with a 61% completion percentage. 35% of UNI's wide receiver production is back in 2025. The Panthers return 65 receptions for 772 yards and four touchdowns from last season. Just 4% of running back production returns in 2025 after losing Tye Edwards and Amauri Pesek-Hickson from the 2024 roster. Harrison Bey-Buie returns to UNI after a season that saw him appear in just two games due to injury, recording 17 carries for 74 yards.
The Panthers bring in transfer Bill Jackson from Tulsa in the backfield. With the Golden Hurricanes, Jackson appeared in 10 games, totaling 319 rushing yards and 104 receiving yards, and scored two receiving touchdowns in 2024. The redshirt-senior appeared in a total of 33 games at Tulsa, totaling 919 rushing yards and one touchdown on 189 carries and 156 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 28 receptions. UNI also welcomes Owen Ostroski to the defensive line from Tulsa. In 2024, Ostroski appeared in 12 games and totaled 36 tackles (14 solo, 22 assist) and recorded 8.5 TFL for 43 yards, including two sacks for 17 yards. In his time at Tulsa, the redshirt-senior played in 35 games and totaled 91 tackles, including 22 for loss. The lineman had one forced fumble and one fumble recovery with the Golden Hurricanes.
The 2025 Panther roster includes nine new coaches to the Panther program, including head coach Todd Stepsis. On top of the coaching staff, the roster includes 33 true freshmen and 11 transfers that will be new to UNI in 2025.
The 2025 roster of 118 players includes 70 athletes from the great state of Iowa. Of these 70, 21 are true freshmen, including a trio from across the street at Cedar Falls High School. Of the 118 athletes on the roster, 97 call either Iowa or its six bordering states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska or South Dakota) home.
The UNI Football team currently has six alumni on active professional rosters including Elijah Campbell (Safety - Miami Dolphins), Spencer Brown (Offensive Lineman - Buffalo Bills), Khristian Boyd (Defensive Lineman - New Orleans Saints), and Trevor Penning (Offensive Lineman - LA Chargers) on NFL rosters and Jared Brinkman (Defensive Lineman - Edmonton Elks) and Benny Sapp III (Cornerback - Saskatchewan Roughriders) on CFL rosters.
UNI football action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Football), X (@UNIFootball) and on Instagram (@unipantherfootball). The full 2025 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
