Shawnee lacks Mooney tradition
YOUNGSTOWN
Hanging in the Cardinal Mooney locker room are banners of nearly 30 collegiate players and coaches who are graduates of the school.
A jam-packed case stands in the main office lobby with trophies, plaques and pictures of championship teams.
Long windows in a winding first-floor hallway look out to a central courtyard with a victory bell in the middle.
They’re all momentos that remind Mooney students and Cardinals players of the prodigious dominance asserted by the football program.
“You go back to the ‘60s and ‘70s and on through the 2000s, I think we feel very privileged to be a part of that rich tradition and feel a lot of responsibility playing under that,” Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said in a teleconference with state-wide media on Monday.
Venturing to its 11th state title game on Friday at 3 p.m. in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium, the Mooney name brings with it seven championships — three of which were under Fecko — and a litany of names synonymous with success at the high school, college and professional levels.
“There’s great people that have walked the halls before us and there’s obviously some very famous names of people that are influencing the NFL and college today. From the DeBartolos that own the 49ers on down to the Stoops family and Bo Pelinis of the world — they’re all people that have played here and had a part of this tradition and success for so many decades.”
If the Cardinals are a 1957 Chevrolet that still runs perfectly, their opponent in the Division III title game, Springfield Shawnee, is a new 2012 Hybrid. People have heard great things about it, know it’s solid, but still have some doubts.
Legendary is a tag one would bestow on Mooney and the classic Chevy — not so much with the Braves and an electric car.
“Very few people think we belong on the field with Mooney,” Shawnee coach Rick Meeks said. “We’re going to use that as fuel to motivate ourself this week and our goal is to shock the world.”
The Braves are here for a reason, though. They are undefeated, they are back-to-back Central Buckeye Conference champs and they are just the second team from Clark County to make a state final.
Still, a 38-11 record over the past four seasons and a No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament isn’t enough to match the Cardinals’ pagentry.
“We’re definitely an underdog,” Meeks said. “Going up against a traditional state power like Mooney is a tall order.
“You try and spin in their head that it’s just another football game, go out and have fun and get ourselves ready, but it’s not just another football game. It’s a state championship and very few get the opportunity to go through what we’re going to go through this week.”