PREP FOOTBALL Mooney passes way past ELO

The Cardinals won 40-0 at Stambaugh Stadium.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Special teams, defense and a new philosophy of offense enabled Cardinal Mooney High to defeat East Liverpool 40-0 Saturday night at Stambaugh Stadium.
Mooney set the tone of the game early with its defense and special teams play and then rode the arm of quarterback Ron Stoops to two scores to tally 26 second quarter points.
Amassing just 14 rushing yards in the first half, the Cardinals were very successful through the air in putting up the early points.
"Teams come in still thinking that 'We're Mooney, we run,' " said coach P.J. Fecko. "They put everyone up in the box and now we can throw the ball efficiently and we took advantage of that."
Stoops completed 6-of 9 passes in the first half for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
Disaster to advantage
Early in the game Mooney turned a near disaster into an advantage that set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Cards had a punt blocked and the Potters took over on the Mooney 10. The Cards defense stiffened and then blocked a 24-yard field goal attempt by East Liverpool to stop the threat.
"That was the big play," Fecko said. "Our defense did a great job all night, but stopping them there was the key.
"After that, our special teams took over."
Mooney's Dustin Hinkle's punt early in the second quarter pinned the Potters on their own one and on the first play Stoops tackled Bo Sallis in the end zone for a safety.
On the ensuing kickoff, Nate Burney raced 57 yards for a touchdown.
No first downs
Mooney's defense, which limited East Liverpool to 22 first half yards and 87 total yards on the night, failed to yield the Potters a first down in the first two periods.
Mooney then scored on touchdown passes by Stoops of 41 yards to Kyle McCarthy and 27 yards to Jim Berry.
Hinkle's 36-yard field goal closed out the scoring in the first half.
"We got things rolling early," Fecko said. "Probably the most pleasing thing to me was the way the team pulled together to weather the storm early.
"It didn't look good at first but we turned it around on them rather quickly."
Mooney tacked on scores in the second half on a 19-yard run by Frank Cassese and a 7-yard run by backup quarterback McCarthy.
Deflating loss
The Potters, who defeated Mooney last year 21-6, never could figure out the Cardinals.
"Hopefully we'll take this as a learning experience," said Potter coach Bob Thayer. "To lose the game in this fashion is very deflating."
Overall Mooney amassed 240 yards of offense and made 10 first downs.