Mooney defense stifles cross-town rival Poland

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

AUSTINTOWN — Early in the second quarter of Friday’s game, after the Poland High football team had capped a long drive with a game-tying touchdown pass, Cardinal Mooney’s defense gathered on the sidelines and made a vow.

“We got together and said, ‘We’re not giving up anything else,’” said senior Mark Pelini. “We just came out and played with a passion.”

The Cardinal defense then forced seven straight punts — the first six on three-and-outs — and senior Braylon Heard made two huge touchdown runs in the third quarter to propel Mooney past Poland 24-7 in a Division III regional final at Fitch Falcon Stadium.

“Unreal talent,” said Bulldogs coach Mark Brungard, when asked about Mooney’s defense. “And you know [Mooney defensive coordinator] Ron Stoops knows a little about defense.

“We just couldn’t get in a rhythm there in the second half.”

Poland’s defense bottled up the Cardinals’ potent running game for much of the first half before the West Virginia-bound Heard took over midway through the third quarter. He scored on touchdown runs of 18 and 59 yards in a span of 69 seconds to give Mooney a 21-7 lead.

“Heard is special,” said Brungard.

The Cardinals added a 28-yard field goal early in the fourth by junior A.J. Fox, who also had a tremendous game punting and kicking off.

Poland’s only scoring threat in the second half came with two minutes left. But on a second and goal at the Mooney 3, senior Pat DePizzo broke through the line to strip-sack sophomore QB Colin Reardon and the ball was recovered by senior Jonathan Negron.

“Defensively, outside of that one score, we really played solid all night,” said Mooney coach P.J. Fecko. “Our defense did some good things and forced them into some bad situations, and we got ahead in the down and distance on the defensive side of the ball.

“I think their difficulty running the football forced their hand a little bit.”

Friday’s game didn’t quite live up to the pregame hype — this was the first meeting between the cross-town rivals — but it did seem to bring out the best in both teams. There were no post-play shoving matches, no postgame jawing and both sides agreed it felt like just another big game.

“All the preliminary hype and fan [interest] seemed to just be a blur,” said Brungard.”

Added Fecko, “Our pregame level was the same, the locker room mood was the same and it was finally nice to get inside the fences and on playing field, where everyone else had to stay away. With all the buzz occurring all week, it was nice to focus on actually playing the game.”

In fact, the only incident came afterward from Fecko, who was miffed Poland gathered in the end zone rather than appear immediately to accept the regional runner-up trophy. (It’s protocol to accept the trophy first.)

When asked about it afterward, Brungard shrugged and said he didn’t know there was a trophy presentation and was simply following his usual postgame routine.

“I’m new to these regional championships,” he said.

Heard finished with 187 yards on 19 carries with three TDs for the Cardinals (13-0), who will likely meet Steubenville in the playoffs for the third straight year, this time in the state semifinals.

If so, Friday’s game will probably be played at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium. Sites and pairings will be announced Sunday.

Mooney (13-0) defeated Steubenville (12-1) in the regional final two years ago, then lost to Big Red last year in the regional semifinals.

“The one thing I remember is Steubenville playing in the state championship game [last season] and never wanting to have that feeling again,” said Pelini, the nephew of Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, who is also a Mooney graduate.

When asked if there’s a revenge factor, Pelini shook his head and said, “We want to play whoever is next.”

Fecko echoed those comments.

“Last year was last year,” he said. “At this point, you’re going into the state semifinals and you’re playing Thanksgiving weekend. There’s not too many teams out there that are.

“You don’t worry about who you’re playing, you worry about taking advantage of the good fortune you have.”

Poland (10-2) fell to 1-2 all-time in regional finals, but got solid efforts from several players, especially linebacker Mike Day on defense (who made two tackles for loss and was all over the field) and Reardon, who completed 13 of 22 passes for 111 yards, a touchdown (on a 22-yard pass to Darius Patton) and an interception.

In fact, the TD pass came on a play intended for the tight end, but when the safety read the play, Reardon turned to his second option: Patton.

“He doesn’t seem to have nerves,” Brungard said of Reardon. “He makes me look like a good coach.

“He’s a special kid.”

And while he was disappointed in the outcome, Brungard felt his team earned respect.

“Our kids played like they deserved to be there and that’s really a compliment to my seniors and how hard they worked,” he said. “Their goal was a regional championship. They’re sad it’s over and we’re going to miss those guys.”

scalzo@vindy.com