Just how good is Ursuline?

The Irish beat their first two opponents, Cleveland East Tech and East Liverpool, by a combined score of 115-0, but what exactly does that mean?

“I think two weeks in a row we’ve done what we’re supposed to do,” said Irish coach Dan Reardon, whose team plays host to Fitch on Friday.

“We’ve had more ability than those teams.

“We’re going to find out a lot about ourselves this week.”

Adding quarterback Lamar McQueen (who transferred from Wilson), combined with the emergence of talented junior running back Darrell Mason (one of the top players in the state) has helped offset the graduation of punishing RB/LB Matt Yarab (Air Force). The Irish have tons of talent at other positions.

Heck, if the Irish had been able to throw the ball last season, they probably would have been a 7-3 or 8-2 playoff team. (Ursuline played Mooney as tough as anyone.) Instead, they went 5-5 and finished 10th in their region.

Irish on the verge
of big things

“I feel like last year we were on the verge of being a very good football team,” Reardon said.

“I think this year’s team has a chance to be a very good football team. We have a lot of the right pieces.

“It just comes down to how we play in games.”

Ursuline, which dropped down to Division V this year, begins a brutal four-game road stretch next Friday against Massillon, followed by Chardon (a Division II state champion in 1994), Warren Harding and Columbus St. Charles.

Ursuline doesn’t play a team lower than Div. III until Mooney in Week 9, which just happens to be the toughest game on its schedule.

“If we’re fortunate enough to get in the playoffs, at least we know we’ll be battle-tested,” Reardon said.

Getting in the playoffs is no cinch, either. Over the past few years, it’s actually required more points in Div. V than in Div. IV, Reardon said.

“There’s obviously a lot of football to be played between now and Week 11,” he said.

“The bottom line is we have to win games.”

Other thoughts
from Week Two

UI haven’t seen a player as exciting as Liberty running back Fitzgerald Toussaint since Mario Manningham was at Warren Harding.

UAfter leading East to the first win in school history against Fitch last week, Coach Brian Shaner and the Panthers return to Austintown this Friday for a “home” game against Cleveland John Adams, one of four different home sites for East this year.

In addition to another game at Fitch on Sept. 29 (against Akron East), the Panthers play home games at Boardman (against Cleveland Heights on Sept. 21), Mollenkopf Stadium in Warren (against Canton Central Catholic on Oct. 12), and Stambaugh Stadium (against Chaney on Oct. 25).

Chaney’s schedule is even worse — the Cowboys play their first nine games on the road.

East wisely opted against playing that many road games (or Saturday afternoon games in front of 500 people) and will play elsewhere.

UI picked Mooney to lose against Gateway (Pa.) last weekend. If I pick Mooney to lose again this year, I should be fired.

UCongrats to Sebring, which snapped a 19-game losing streak last week by beating Southington.

Incidentally, South Range not only has the area’s longest regular season win streak at 24 games but has won 45 of its last 46 regular season games, which is ridiculous. The lone loss? Against Mineral Ridge in 2004.

UThis is a couple weeks overdue, but if you get a chance, visit www.scoutingohio.com, click on “Special Football Videos” and choose “The Top 60 Players in Youngstown.” It lasts about nine minutes and it’s terrific. Kudos to creator Mark Porter.

Player of the week: Mooney QB Dan McCarthy, who had three touchdowns and 173 total yards in helping the Cardinals beat the 10th-ranked team in the nation.

Quote of the week: “That wasn’t too good, was it?” said Liberty coach Jeff Whittaker when asked about giving up a 90-yard kickoff return on the game’s first play. The Leopards rebounded to win 43-22.

XJoe Scalzo covers high school football for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.