Mooney vs. Akron SVSM

Gallery

Team

Cardinal Mooney

Record	Div.	Conf.
7/5	Div. IV	Independents

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

UNIONTOWN

With just a little more than 30 seconds remaining in Saturday’s game, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary faced a third-and-8 at the Cardinal Mooney 43 with a chance to break a tie game, advance in the playoffs and snap a Cardinal curse on par with great rivalries such as nail vs. hammer, Coyote vs. Roadrunner and Charles Barkley vs. pumpkin cheesecake.

Irish QB Kevin Besser dropped back to pass, looked left and saw two receivers. From his cornerback spot, Mooney senior Carmen Leonelli tracked the play as Besser tried to hit his inside receiver. Problem was, the pass went too high and ... well, Leonelli can take it from here.

“It was a little over his head and that’s when I broke on it,” said Leonelli, who is generously listed at 5-foot-8. “I just tried to get the ball before it hit the ground.

“I made it just in time.”

In “Immaculate Reception” style, Leonelli grabbed it just inches off the turf, kept his feet and took it 71 yards down the right sideline for the game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds left.

Two plays and another Besser interception later and the defending state champions had the win, 27-20, in a Division III regional semifinal at Blue Streak Stadium.

Mooney (7-4) will meet Akron Buchtel in Saturday’s regional final.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going anywhere but the end zone, I’m not going down,’” said Leonelli, who followed defensive lineman Clarence Scott down the field.

The play capped a riveting game that saw the Irish rally from 10-0 halftime deficit to take a 20-13 lead with 4:21 left in the game on Sae’von Fitzgerald’s 2-yard touchdown run.

But the Cardinals tied it 21 seconds later thanks to Charlie Brown’s 59-yard run (aided by a block from Leonelli) and Scott’s 1-yard TD plunge on the ensuing play.

After forcing a SVSM punt, Mooney got the ball back at its own 25 with about two minutes left. But Kevin McGuire was intercepted by Anthony Cicione at the 45, setting up the final events.

The Cardinals improved to 19-1 all-time against the Irish, a streak that includes a 23-6 win in Week 8. When a reporter tried to comfort SVSM coach Dan Boarman by saying it was a fan-friendly game, he frowned and said, “Unfortunately, I’m not a fan. I’m a coach. Our kids played their hearts out and our seniors deserved to win this one.

“It’s been a long time since we beat a Mooney team and that’s really what we had on our mind,” Boarman said. “We wanted this one.”

Fitzgerald ran for 89 yards and Doran Grant caught nine passes for 143 yards for the Irish (7-5), who also lost to Mooney in the 2007 Division IV regional semifinals.

Brown ran for 183 yards to lead the Cardinals, who are finally starting to get healthy again after playing without eight starters in Week 10. Among the returnees were Brown and QB/SS Kevin McGuire.

“Guys are coming back and getting healthy and getting into playing shape,” Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said. “I haven’t seen the injury report yet, so hopefully we came out of this one unscathed.”