Mooney gets Big Red bruise

Mooney Vs. Steubenville

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Mooney vs Steubenville

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By Pete Mollica

Turnovers significant in the 28-16 loss

CANTON — The Mooney High football team will not be appearing in its fifth straight Division IV state championship game.

But Steubenville Big Red might be in this year’s title game.

Mooney (9-3) struggled offensively for the second straight game and then made some costly turnovers in Friday’s Division IV Region 13 semifinal at Fawcett Stadium.

Steubenville (12-0) took full advantage to send the Cardinals home early with a 28-16 victory.

“I thought we played much better offensively in the second half, but we had trouble finishing our drives and that cost us dearly,” Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said. “We got hurt by a couple of big plays and some turnovers.”

The Big Red jumped out to a 21-3 halftime lead. After the Cardinals cut into the margin with a third quarter score, Steubenville put the game away after forcing a third Mooney turnover with a fourth quarter score.

Big Red junior quarterback Dwight Macon and senior fullback Branko Busick were the big guns as they accounted for three of Steubenville’s four touchdowns. Both finished with more than 100 yards rushing.

Macon led the way with two scores and 123 yards rushing, while he also added another 73 yards passing. Busick had 108 yards rushing and one score.

Mooney’s offense picked up the pace in the second half and finished with 253 total yards and 139 rushing.

Braylon Heard led the Cardinals with 75 yards on seven carries including a 43-yard scamper. Junior quarterback Alex Zordich completed 10 of 19 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted twice.

“Turnovers are always going to play a big factor in the game and we just made too many against an excellent team like Steubenville,” Fecko said.

The Cardinals also lost a fumble, one of four they had.

“I thought we played pretty well defensively for the most part tonight,” Fecko said.

The Cardinals cut into the Big Red’s lead in the third quarter after Steubenville’s Macon made one of his rare mistakes.

After Macon completed a 33-yard pass to Anthony Pierro to put the ball at Mooney’s 32 yard line, he fumbled and Joe Stoops recovered for Mooney.

Heard broke loose for a 43-yard run. Zordich ran another 15 yards to the 1 and eventually carried over for the score on a sneak to cut the lead to 21-10 with 2:51 to go in the third quarter.

Mooney’s defense rose to the occasion, stopping Big Red and forcing a punt.

But the Cardinals gave the ball right back two plays later as Macon intercepted a Zordich pass at the Mooney 38.

Steubenville then went in for the game clincher as Macon carried the final 19 yards for the score.

Mooney scored one last time, on the final play of the game. Zordich hit Donald D’Aelsio with a 13-yard scoring toss. The Cardinals didn’t attempt the extra point.

The Cardinals never got untracked in the first half on either side of the football and turnovers proved very costly.

After Mooney went three-and-out on its first offensive series, the Big Red showed why they are known for being a big-play team.

Macon faked into the line on second down and then followed Busick right up the middle, breaking into the open and outracing the Mooney defense for a 63-yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the contest.

On its third series, Mooney finally got something going on offense behind the running of junior tailback Karrington Griffin.

Griffin carried the ball nine times in the drive which stalled out at the Steubenville 13 yard line where junior kicker Ed Reese came on to kick a 30-yard field goal.

But the Big Red answered right back, again with the big play. Busick broke loose right up the middle for a 74-yard run to the Mooney 12, Three plays later, he capped the drive with a 1-yard run.

The Cardinals had two turnovers in the half, but the one that hurt came on the next series as Griffin fumbled at his own 24. Isiah Willis recovered at that spot.

Four plays later, Jeryl Christian bulled over from the 1 for a 21-3 lead.

With time running out in the first half, the Cardinals tried to make one last effort as Zordich hit Justin Leonelli with a 26-yard pass over the middle. But on the next play, Zordich was intercepted by Brandon Carroll at the 10.

mollica@vindy.com