Big-play Bengals pull past Mooney

Benedictine's quick-strike offense was too much for the Cardinals in a 49-25 defeat.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cleveland Benedictine's big-yardage, big-play scores gave Cardinal Mooney big trouble and a big defeat Friday night in a high school parochial football game at Stambaugh Stadium.
Benedictine's seven touchdowns ranged from 23 to 67 yards -- Jahmal Brown scoring three of them on sprints of 67, 64 and 46 yards -- as the big-and-fast Bengals used a 21-point third quarter to streak away from Mooney, 49-25.
The speedy and elusive Brown, who rushed for 177 yards in 12 carries, was difficult to catch and even harder to stop in the open field, powering the defending Division III state champions, who are ranked No. 4 in the state this season.
Quarterback Joe Laffey added three big-yardage TDs, two to John Dunn covering 23 and 59 yards; and the other to Mykol Gardiner (33 yards). Laffey finished 6-for-14 for 93 yards.,
Chris Austin dashed 55 yards to the Bengals' other TD while Alex Steigerwald was a perfect 7-for-7 in extra-point kicks.
Poor open-field tackling
Mooney (4-2) coach P.J. Fecko said his team tackled poorly in the open field.
"They had speed and broke into the secondary and we had trouble tackling them," said Fecko, whose team was ranked ninth in Div. IV. "Their backs are elusive. They did a good job, They are a good football team.
"We weren't able to stop the big plays early on. It buried us and it snowballed from there."
Benedictine (6-1) also beat Mooney last year, 17-0.
But Mooney showed that its offense could move and score, and the Cardinals made a game of it until early in the third quarter.
Small-but-fast Nate Burney scored two TDs for Mooney, both from 2 yards out, and finished with 102 yards rushing in 14 carries.
Quarterback Kyle McCarthy was involved in Mooney's other two TDs, hitting Dan Babyak on a 10-yard strike and dashing 2 yards to a score.
McCarthy was a busy player and accounted for 196 yards, going 8-for-16 passing for 126 yards and rushing for 70 yards in 17 carries.
"They were keying on [McCarthy]," said Fecko. "He is a person who draws attention. They did a good job of cat-and-mousing him and he couldn't break free."
The turning point
The turning point occurred early in the third quarter when Benedictine, holding a 28-13 lead and in a fourth-and-two situation at its 38-yard line, declined to punt. The Bengals took a big chance and ran the ball, but Mooney held at the line of scrimmage and took over.
The Cardinals covered the distance in seven plays, capped by McCarthy's 2-yard dash at 5:26 to cut the deficit to 28-19.
But on Benedictine's ensuing offensive play, Brown broke loose for a 64-yard TD at 5:06 to trigger a 21-point revolt.
"We held them and we go down and needed to score [and did], and then we needed a [defensive] stop because we were moving the ball [when we had it]," said Fecko. "But the first play from scrimmage they had another big play."
Then, after Mooney failed to move and punted to its 46, Brown went the distance again on the second play to pad the Bengals' lead.
On Benedictine's next series, Austin streaked 55 yards on the third play to seal the triumph.
"We didn't do a good job of tackling," said Fecko.
Benedictine rushed for 251 yards and had 13 first downs, while Mooney rushed for 184 yards and had 20 first downs.
kovach@vindy.com