Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU QB Beau Brungard attempts to evade a tackle during the first half on Saturday at Southern Illinois.

Youngstown State has had its share of tough losses this season.

YSU was blown out on the road at Pitt and South Dakota State, while also dropping tight, one-score games to Villanova, Duquesne, Missouri State and Illinois State.

Saturday’s latest defeat might be the Penguins’ most devastating of the season, as YSU blew a 28-point lead to fall to Southern Illinois 37-33 in Carbondale, Ill.

After a stagnant and sluggish performance offensively in last week’s loss to Illinois State, YSU started strong against the Salukis, scoring touchdowns on four of its first five possessions.

But from there, it all started to go downhill for the Penguins, as SIU outscored YSU 37-5 the rest of the way.

YSU’s early offensive barrage came courtesy of quarterback Beau Brungard, who had a hat trick of rushing touchdowns by the start of the second quarter, as he accounted for each of the Penguins’ four touchdowns. He finished with 266 passing yards and 121 rushing yards.

The first came off a six-play, 66-yard drive — which included pass completions of 29 and 20 yards to Cyrus Traugh and Max Tomczak, respectively — and ended with Brungard’s first touchdown run from three yards out.

After a punt on its next drive, YSU capitalized on a short field with a 46-yard drive that culminated with a 27-yard touchdown run by Brungard on fourth down. The Salukis had a linebacker spying the quarterback, but with SIU in man coverage, Brungard was able to beat the defender and sprint untouched up the middle of the field.

On the Penguins’ next drive, Brungard did something similar, as he took advantage of SIU again being in man coverage to scramble for a 26-yard touchdown.

Then a turnover-on-downs forced by the defense turned into another touchdown drive for the offense. Brungard hit receiver Tomczak deep over the top for a 52-yard completion — something YSU hasn’t seen much of this year — which set up Brungard’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Tyshon King.

With YSU sitting on a 28-0 lead near the end of the first half, the tide started to turn.

SIU got its first score of the game with a 6-yard touchdown run by true freshman quarterback Jake Curry.

Then with the Penguins again looking to add to their lead, Brungard was picked off by SIU’s Desman Hearns. That led to Curry’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Allen Middleton with just seconds left before halftime.

However, in a wild swing of events, SIU elected to go for two again. After scrambling, Curry was leveled at the goal line by Stephon Hall, which knocked the ball loose. Mike Wells picked it up and returned it all the way to the end zone for a two-point defensive PAT, giving the Penguins a 30-12 halftime lead.

That quelled some of SIU’s momentum, but the Salukis got back at it in the second half with a long scoring drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Athans.

Brungard threw his second interception of the game on YSU’s next drive, but the defense got the Penguins the ball back on the very next play as Isaiah Crozier pulled down his first career interception in the end zone.

The Penguins converted the turnover into points when Andrew Lastovka booted a 38-yard field goal to give YSU a 33-18 lead.

From there, Southern Illinois scored 19 unanswered points, all in the fourth quarter.

Curry bounced back, got into a rhythm in the passing game and started finding his receivers. He finished the game 19-for-26 for 322 yards and three touchdowns. He was also SIU’s leading rusher with 78 yards and a touchdown.

After YSU turned the ball over on downs, the Salukis had a chance to drive and tie the game down 33-25 with 4:23 left.

A quick-and-easy drive culminated with Curry finding Colton Hoag on a wheel route down the sideline for an 18-yard touchdown. But YSU’s Jaylen Castleberry broke up the ensuing two-point try in the end zone to preserve the Penguins’ lead.

However, after YSU was unable to get a first down, SIU had one more chance with 1:43 to go down by two.

The Salukis needed just three plays to score in 39 seconds, as Curry hit Bradley Clark for a 20-yard touchdown to give SIU its first lead of the game.

YSU’s offense had 1:04 left to drive down and try to score the game-winning touchdown. The Penguins drove into the red zone, but Brungard’s pass went out of the back of the end zone as time expired to hand the Salukis the comeback victory.

Now sitting at 3-8 overall, YSU will close out the regular season next Saturday at noon against Northern Iowa at Stambaugh Stadium.