Mooney vs St Ed's

Gallery

By JOE SCALZO

scalzo@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

When your offensive line averages 6-foot-4, 290 pounds, you get a lot of questions like “How did you get so lucky?” and “What are you feeding them?”

“Basically, it’s a trough and we throw food in it,” joked Lakewood St. Edward coach Richard Finotti. “Any kind of food we get.”

He stopped, then smiled.

“We’re very fortunate with their size,” he said. “We’ll never see that line again.”

Cardinal Mooney certainly hopes so. Thanks to the Eagles’ beef up front, St. Edward out-Mooneyed Mooney, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball en route to a 37-3 victory at Fitch Falcon Stadium.

It ended Mooney’s 17-game winning streak and gave the Cardinals their worst loss since a 42-0 defeat to Warren Harding in 2002.

When asked if he saw it coming, Finotti said, “Nooooo. No way. We respected Cardinal Mooney way too much.

“We still do.”

Running back Terrell Bates carried 19 times for 98 yards, quarterback Kevin Burke combined for 145 yards and Reggie Terrell scored three short-yardage touchdowns to lead the Eagles (3-0), who beat the Cardinals for the first time in three meetings.

“They’re a good football team,” Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said of the Eagles. “They did a good job with those big boys of controlling the line of scrimmage and were able to really move the ball on the ground against us.

“And up front, they did a good job defensively for us. It was kind of a bend-but don’t break defense. Any time we got a drive together and got in there toward the red zone, they tightened up and we weren’t able to put a touchdown on the board.”

Senior tailback Charlie Brown carried 18 times for 109 yards for Mooney (2-1), the defending Division III state champions.

Sophomore Justus Ellis-Moore added 51 yards on four carries in a mop-up role late in the fourth quarter.

Any Cardinal upset hopes ended in the closing seconds of the first half. After a muffed punt return gave St. Edward the ball at the Mooney 20, the Eagles drove 19 yards in five plays to set up a fourth-and-goal at the 1. Terrell plunged in with 4 seconds left to make it 21-7 at halftime.

The Cardinals never threatened in the second half and, with sophomore backup Courtney Love at quarterback, Fecko was content to keep the ball on the ground.

Mooney threw just one pass and it came on the game’s final play.

The Cardinals, who have played three straight Division I teams, got its only points on a 37-yard field goal by A.J. Fox that made it 3-0.

Mooney (2-1) will now focus on Friday’s game at Columbus DeSales, which is a rematch of last year’s state championship game.

“We go back to work,” said Fecko. “It’s just like when we win a ball game. It’s over this night and we have to get to work on the next team. It’s no different when we lose.

“This week’s behind us and we’ve got to move forward.”