Cards set for another win

By JON MOFFETT

Vindicator Staff Writer

YOUNGSTOWN — For seniors at Cardinal Mooney high school, there are no second chances.

That was the message Fran Lyons gave to the class of 2009 when it comes to the football game against Ursuline.

Lyons was a member of the Cardinal football team of 1958 and spoke on behalf of the team during a pep rally at the school Thursday.

Hundreds of students, parents and alumni packed into the Mooney gymnasium to cheer the football team in anticipation of their showdown with rival Ursuline tonight.

The football team entered the gym through a curtain of smoke as the band blared and the crowd cheered. They made their way to their seats and passed by members of the ’58 team, who applauded them as they walked by.

The crowd was treated to a number of events, including a live news report, courtesy of Mooney students.

Seniors Brad Byers, Anthony Francheschelli, Ryan Salata and Owen Timlin dressed up as the Channel 4 News team, characters from the movie “Anchorman,” and sat behind a news desk in front of the room. The group talked about the game before Byers spotted Ursuline students at the back of the building.

Three Mooney students, dressed in Ursuline green and gold, sauntered around, taunting the Mooney crowd.

The trio was then greeted by four Mooney students and engaged in a makeshift wrestling match in a ring made of gym mats and parking cones for the ring posts. The school mascot got involved and delivered an elbow drop to one of the students in the Ursuline attire.

After the rally, members of the team of ’58 adjourned upstairs to a room and reminisced about playing in the first Mooney-Ursuline game and the rivalry.

“It’s an honor, really,” said Dave Fitzpatrick. “It brings back a lot of memories, and we get to see a lot of friends that we haven’t seen for a while.”

The group talked about how the game had changed, such as the change from leather helmets and the inclusion of face masks.

The equipment wasn’t the only thing that changed when the team arrived at Mooney. Because the football program was new, players made history just by playing.

“We were the first ones to do anything,” said Jim Patterson. “If you made a tackle, you were the first one to have two tackles, or the first one to do this.”

But the real history was made when the Cardinals played — and defeated — Ursuline for the first time 8-6.

The players recalled their feelings on the first game of the series in 1958 and how special the rivalry had become. Lyons remembered how horrible it felt to lose to Ursuline the very next season and having to give the shillelagh, the trophy awarded to the winner of the game, to Ursuline.

“I had to go to the Ursuline rally and give the shillelagh back,” Lyons. “And I sat in the car after I did it and cried for an hour. That’s what it means to win or lose this game.”

jmoffett@vindy.com