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Panthers Open Season With 38-3 Win Over Youngstown

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Pitt Panthers' Dion Lewis scored three touchdowns by halftime while running for 129 yards in his first college start.
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Year five of the Dave Wannstedt era at Pitt got underway Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field as the Panthers opened their season against Youngstown State.

Dion Lewis scored three touchdowns by halftime while running for 129 yards in his first college start and the Panthers beat the Penguins 38-3.

"What I really liked about this football game today was how our players approached it," said Wannstedt. "How they approached it this week, getting ready for the opening game of the season, taking nothing for granted."

Lewis, a freshman, scored on a 16-yard run on his fifth college carry, and then set up his own 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter with gains of 28 and 25 yards on successive carries.

Later in the quarter, Lewis scored again on a 3-yard swing pass from quarterback Bill Stull.

"It was a good start. Still want to do a little bit better, you know, never be satisfied," said Lewis of his performance after the game. "I had a good game today, but that doesn't mean I can just slack off, I still gotta keep working hard."

Stull had only 44 yards passing at halftime, but finished 11 of 16 for 123 yards and an interception.

"Our running game; we ran power a bunch of times today and they were even stemming their d-line to the point where they thought we were going to run it and we still got five yards on it," said Stull after the game. "The guys up front were hungry."

Tino Sunseri, a redshirt freshman, found Jonathan Baldwin on a 42-yard completion after replacing Stull in the third quarter. He later hooked up with Aundre Wright on a 6-yard scoring pass play.

For Youngstown State, Stephen Blose had a 48-yard field goal in the second quarter. Also, Brandon Summers was 11 of 22 for 113 yards and two interceptions while Donald Jones was held to four catches for 34 yards.