Hail Cardinal Mooney, Warren JFK football teams

If there were ever any doubts that the Mahoning Valley remains a powerhouse for exemplary high school football talent, the stellar 2006 season put to rest any such notions.
The season climaxed over the weekend with two Valley teams competing for their respective division state championships. On Friday, Cardinal Mooney High School's Cardinals defeated Plain City Jonathan Alder 26-12 to capture the Division IV title. On Saturday, Warren John F. Kennedy High School finished the season as state runner-up in Division V after a heartbreaking loss to St. Henry.
Both teams have earned hearty congratulations for the honor and pride they have brought to their schools, to their communities and to the entire Mahoning Valley.
Perfection for Mooney
Mooney head coach P.J. Fecko and his indomitable Cardinal squad have 14 solid reasons to look back at their championship game and the entire 2006 season with unbridled enthusiasm. Mooney won each and every one of its 14 regular-season and playoff games to set a school record for victories in a season and to become only the second team in school history to go undefeated en route to a state championship in Massillon.
In so doing, this year's crop of Cardinals continued and strengthened the Youngstown diocesan high school's legacy of tenacious and superlative football prowess. The Cardinals, the first team in school history to advance to three straight state finals, improved to 6-2 all-time in state championship games. Mooney won titles in 1973, 1980, 1982, 1987 and 2004 and fell short in 1985 and 2005.
No other school in the region and very few others in the state and nation can stake claim to such bragging rights.
Warren JFK is a champ, too
In Trumbull County, Warren JFK, too, has been no stranger to state championship play. The Eagles made it all the way to the state finals four times since the late 1980s, and brought home the state championship in 1991. JFK's 28-7 loss to St. Henry in Canton on Saturday dashed hopes of another title.
Despite the loss, JFK Coach Tony Napolet and his Eagles have no reason to feel dejected. At the start of the season, few -- including the JFK football program itself -- had any inkling that the season would end up as victorious as it did. Hard work, determination and skillful play carried the team on to win after win after win. In the end, JFK won the most games in a single season in school history and earned distinction as the second best of some 120 teams in their enrollment division in Ohio in 2006.
Both diocesan high school teams now have momentum on their side as they look ahead with anticipation toward the 2007 season.
For now, however, both the Eagles and the Cardinals have earned a chance to bask in the glory of their own accomplishments and in the positive focus they've put on their schools and on the Youngstown-Warren region.
Hail Cardinal Mooney and Warren JFK!