Mooney: Talented, fun-loving group

The & Ccedil;ardinals know when to have fun and when to get serious and win games.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ham Incident started back in September in the Cardinal Mooney lunchroom.
Junior linebacker Michael Zordich was munching on a piece of pizza when senior linebacker Mike Cylar came over and grabbed it and started eating it. So Zordich took what was left and threw it at Cylar. So Cylar decided to throw some pudding on Zordich's shoulder.
And that's when Zordich took it to the next level.
Just before football practice, he looked inside the refrigerator in the school's locker room and found some three-week old ham and mashed potatoes. He grabbed them, walked over to Cylar's locker and, lovingly, placed them inside his helmet.
"When he went to put on his helmet, it all fell out," said Zordich.
Did Cylar know who did it?
"Well, everyone started laughing and they all blamed me," said Zordich.
Welcome to the Mooney locker room, where, four days before the biggest game of his career, Zordich (wearing one orange sock, one black sock, a green T-shirt and maroon shorts) teamed up with junior Dan McCarthy to start wrestling (or pounding on, depending on your perspective) senior Mike McGlone.
"See this?" McGlone shouted. "I'm taking on two Division I athletes."
Fun-loving group
There are a lot of words you can use to describe this year's Cardinals -- talented, hard-working, focused -- but uptight isn't one of them.
"Nothing surprises me," said Mooney coach P.J. Fecko. "They're a very relaxed group and they do like to pull pranks on each other.
"But it's never done with ill feelings."
Although the seniors will occasionally mess with the underclassman -- for instance, a few of the lineman repeatedly tackled one of the sophomores at the end of running laps a few days ago -- there's definitely not a hazing problem. For one thing, most of the pranks are pulled by (or on) the team's best players. And, for another, "it's all done to the upperclassmen anyway," Fecko said.
For instance, the cheerleaders decorate the players' lockers every Thursday before the game. Afterward, the Cardinals grab the decorations and shove them into Bob Ciotola's locker.
They've also been known to throw baby powder into Matt Lyden's locker. Or grab McCarthy's pads and throw them into the showers -- then turn on the water. Or put rubber cement on a piece of tape, put it on one of the player's legs, then tell him to let it dry, "so it'll come off easier."
Even during the game
And the teasing doesn't stop when the game starts. Earlier in the year, in a game against Akron Hoban, McCarthy walked into the huddle and said, "OK, let's put the knife in the coffin."
"Don't you mean put the nail in the coffin?" his center, senior Zak Dietz, asked.
"Yeah, whatever," said McCarthy. "Let's go."
That story prompted senior tackle Ishmaai'ly Kitchen to shake his head.
"That cat says some weird stuff in the huddle," he said.
McCarthy seems to be at the center of a lot of the best stories. For instance, he's got a reputation for never pitching the ball when the team runs the option, allowing him to pad his statistics at his tailbacks' expense.
"Oh yeah, he's very greedy," said Dietz. "When he scored six touchdowns in the Hoban game, the last touchdown was supposed to be a hand-off to [junior] Taylor Hill. But he kept it and broke the school record."
McCarthy will also occasionally complain when one of his linemen misses a block. (Considering how good the Cardinals' line is, he doesn't get many opportunities to do this.)
"Yeah, this guy will scream when we miss a block," Kitchen said.
"He doesn't understand that, without us, he's not going to get all those player of the week awards," Dietz said.
"What?" McCarthy said. "I know that! That's why I always give you guys props in the interviews."
Interviews, rewards
McCarthy, of course, gets more interviews than anyone else, which means he also gets extra teasing. Hill, on the other hand, doesn't get interviewed as much, but he does have a reputation as being the coaches' darling. The coaches award "pride stickers" (also known as "scout awards") for good plays in practice. Hill's helmet is full of them.
(A little too full, if you ask his teammates.)
"I think he gets a sticker just for walking on the field," said Dietz. "They'll ask where he's at in the locker room and we'll find out he walked to his car to get something. So someone will say, 'Oh, he gets a scout award for that.'"
Not even the coaches are immune. Fecko, whose initials stand for "Patrick Joseph" is known as "Patty Joe" among the players.
"Oh yeah," said Fecko, laughing. "I'll get a few of those chants."
Doesn't bother coach
The laid-back atmosphere doesn't bother Fecko, which is a tribute to the team's outstanding chemistry and its ability to focus when it matters.
"I've never seen a group like this, where they can have fun and laugh and be as laid-back as you can be, then turn it on on the field," he said. "And it's not just in games. In practice, too. It makes it a lot easier to coach, I can tell you that."
It's hard to argue with the results. With a win over Plain City Jonathan Alder on Friday, the Cardinals (13-0) can win their sixth state title, which would also be the second for "Patty Joe."
"What can you say?" Fecko said, smiling. "They like to have fun."