Win leaves good taste in hungry Cavaliers' mouths

By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CANTON -- Playing in only their school's second state title game, Coldwater players felt they had one advantage going against the defending state champion.
"Last night we talked about how they've experienced it before so they might not have the taste for it, the hunger for it as we do," Coldwater quarterback Steve Borger said. "We had been waiting for this for I don't know how many years. It's just great knowing that we beat a great team."
Saturday, Borger passed for 209 yards by completing 12-of-17 passes and three touchdowns as the Cavaliers (15-0) defeated Mooney, 33-9, in the Division IV state title game at Fawcett Stadium.
Ohio State recruit Ross Homan rushed for 70 yards on 16 carries and scored a 15-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Offensive philosophy
"The whole playoffs, we've been concentrating on taking what the defense gives us, [trying not to] make bad decisions ... to force things," Homan said. "That's just what we did today and have been doing the whole postseason."
Brady Geier, who caught four passes for 106 yards including touchdowns, expressed respect for Mooney's reputation.
"To be the best, you've got to beat the best," said Geier who scored on receptions of 22 and 42 yards. "All week long, everyone has been talking about how Mooney is the best, that Mooney and Coldwater are the best in this division. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."
Mooney's touchdown came on the first play of the second quarter when Dan McCarthy blocked Geier's punt and Robert Walker returned the ball 37 yards to reduce the Cavaliers' lead to 13-9.
That was as close as Mooney would get as the Cavaliers responded with a 73-yard scoring march capped by Borger's 22-yard toss to Geier on a crossing pattern.
"Brady was my last option on the pass. I was looking in the corner of the end zone right and I saw Brady getting open left so I led him along and he ran right underneath it," Borger said.
Fecko said Borger's talent made a difference.
Where it hurt
"They did a pretty good job with those medium-range passes, of finding little open areas," Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said. "Some of those medium passes went on to become long passes with the runs.
"At times we played well enough to stop them, get some sacks and make some bad throws, but they would come back and find an opening for a first down."
Ahead by 11 points at halftime, Geier said the Cavaliers didn't consider the game a lock. Before coming out of the locker room, Geier said the seniors suggested that the Cavaliers should go out and "play like we were down seven, not just milking the clock. We just wanted to keep laying it on them and playing [well]."
In containing Mooney's offense, Geier said, "We really didn't do too much special -- we just made sure everybody knew how fast they were and we made sure we didn't let them bounce it outside and that everybody ran to the ball. We wanted to prevent the long play."
They succeeded.
"For the program, it's really great to finally be able to get this ultimate win, but these guys have been winners all along," said Coldwater coach John Reed, whose Cavaliers lost the Div. IV title game five years ago to Ursuline.
williams@vindy.com