For Mooney, it's all about the heritage

The team is trying to win its second straight state title.
By KANTELE FRANKO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- In preparation for today's Division IV state championship game, the Cardinal Mooney High School football team received some advice from a former player.
Tim Fyda, a member of the 1973 Mooney state championship football team, said he hopes to see this year's team wearing "that same sweet victory smile" after the game against Coldwater at Fawcett Stadium.
During a rally at the school Friday, Fyda reminisced about the 1973 game -- everything from the coaches' calmness to Mooney legend Ted Bell's being injured in the fourth quarter -- and the euphoric feeling that followed the victory over Warren Western Reserve.
"This [rally] brings back the memories, and it brings back just that feeling of Mooney pride," he said.
That pride was in abundance during the rally when cheerleading and dance performances and the parade of players drew cheers from the animated crowd of students, staff and parents. Though students were split by grade level into competitive cheering sections for the rally, their cheers were the furthest thing from divided as each section echoed a cry of "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y."
History lesson
Fyda urged players to remember and honor the football program's history during the big game.
"Mooney has an incredible heritage -- quite a bit more than the team you're going to play tomorrow," Fyda said. "You're now a part of that heritage, regardless of what happens tomorrow."
Coach P.J. Fecko said he expects to see most of the students, as well as parents and teachers, show up to support the team as it tries to build on that tradition.
Despite the prestige and pressure of a championship endeavor, Fecko said he believes his players will remain focused and confident, especially because many of them have experience in big games -- like last year's state championship over Versailles.
Victory today would mark Mooney's sixth state championship in seven trips to the state finals.