Key play: About Mooney’s final extra-point try, Coldwater defensive tackle Tyler Kunk said of Kurt Schlarman’s block: “We were all going to try and pinch down and get up the middle. It seemed like they were giving us the soft shoulder the whole night on [extra-point kicks] so we thought we had a chance to get in there. And we knew if we could get in there to block that, we knew the game was pretty much over. We dug down as deep as we could. We had a little bit more left than what they had.”
Area history: Mooney is now 6-3 all-time in state championship games, winning titles in 1972, 1980, 1982, 1987, 2004 and 2006 and falling in 1985, 2005 and 2007. Its last two losses have come against Coldwater. This is the third straight year two area teams have made the state finals, with five of the six teams losing. Ursuline lost to Maria Stein Marion Local 20-14 in Friday’s Division V state final. Overall, this is the seventh year two Mahoning Valley teams made it to the state final. The area has never had two champions in the same year. This weekend also marked the second time two Steel Valley Conference teams made it to the state finals. Mooney and Boardman each made it in 1987, with the Cardinals winning the Div. III title and Boardman losing in Div. I. (Warren Western Reserve was not in the SVC when the Raiders played Mooney in the 1973 final.)
MAC history: The victories by Marion Local and Coldwater gave the Midwest Athletic Conference a state champion for the fifth straight year. The Flyers and St. Henry each won titles last year, while Coldwater and Delphos St. John’s won titles in 2005, St. Henry in 2004 and Versailles in 2003. The MAC has had a champion or a runner-up every year but three since 1989. At the end of Saturday’s game, Coldwater’s fans were chanting, “M-A-C! M-A-C!”
Game notes: Saturday’s championship game started at 3:07 p.m. and ended a 5:48. The temperature was 30 degrees with 7 MPH winds from the east. Attendance was 7,465.
Penalties: Mooney lost the penalty battle. The Cardinals were penalized 11 times for 94 yards. The Cavaliers had four infractions for 20 yards.
Inexperience not a factor: Asked if the youth of Mooney’s secondary was a factor, Cardinals coach P.J. Fecko said, “They had enough experience this season. I wouldn’t blame anything on inexperience.”

Tom Williams, Joe Scalzo