Cardinals are champions again

Cardinals are champions again

Vince Lombardi is popularly mis- quoted as having said winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.

That is a callow assessment that doesn’t elevate the value of victory, it discounts it.

But what Lombardi actually said was, “While winning is not everything, trying to win is everything.”

And that sentiment more accurately captures the nobility that comes with a well-earned victory.

One of the best examples in the state of Ohio of what it is like to win with nobility can be found close to home, at Cardinal Mooney High School on Youngstown’s South Side.

Championship tradition

Friday afternoon, Coach P.J. Fecko’s Mooney Cardinals won the school’s eighth state divisional football championship, and the fourth under Fecko’s leadership. And they did it in a workmanlike way, executing what they had been taught by their coaches with precision and without ever losing their focus.

The 21-14 victory over a talented and determined Springfield Shawnee squad was a textbook example of preparing to win, trying to win and succeeding.

The team and its fans were a credit to the school and their community in every way. They won the trophy. But more, they earned respect.