By Matthew Peaslee

mpeaslee@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

It’s really no surprise that both the Mooney and Springfield Shawnee football teams are playing in the Division III state championship. Their respective offenses are potent and engineered by polished players who move the ball.

Their leaders under center.

In 2011, quarterbacks P.J. Quinn and Brad Jarzab have combined to throw for 2,524 yards, run for 2,055 yards and account for 50 touchdowns. Shawnee’s Jarzab has a slight advantage in all three categories. Assuming the full-time role, Jarzab has compiled a .923 winning percentage over the past two years.

“He makes my job a heck of a lot easier,” Shawnee coach Rick Meeks said of his senior QB. “It makes me look pretty smart when we have a kid back there that is much a competitor as Brad is.”

He was a backup in 2009 under highly regarded QB, Evan Storts.

In his first career start for the Braves to start the 2010 season, Jarzab fell to Springfield Catholic Central 34-20 before rattling off 10 straight wins. They lost to Eaton in the regional final, but along the way, Jarzab picked up 1,094 yards on the ground and 928 through the air.

This year, he is the team’s leading rusher with 1,377 yards, while completing 55 percent of his passes for 1,363 yards. And he’s been the back-to-back Buckeye Conference Player of the Year.

“He works his tail off and he’s a great player with the stats he’s been able to put up,” Meeks said. “He’s tough to defend because if you load up on the run, he’s going to beat you with his arm.”

Mooney’s Quinn sports a .769 winning percentage in this, his first year as the regular starter.

“P.J. does a great job of managing the game,” said Mooney coach P.J. Fecko. “He’s made some very good decisions and put us in some positive positions throughout this season.”

Describing Quinn as a mixed bag of a quarterback would be a little misleading, but he’s versatile with a mix of run and pass. For example, in a week 2 win at Boardman, he carried the ball eight times for 65 yards and threw just three times, completing two and netting 16 yards. But in a 20-point win over Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, he racked up 186 yards through the air and just 16 on the ground.

The best game to find Quinn’s balance would be in the Cardinals 21-16 upstaging of Delaware’s Red Lion Christian Academy where he was 7-for-11 passing for 81 yards, while carrying the ball 12 times for 24 yards. He threw for one score and rushed for one.

Through the four games of the playoffs, Quinn has 258 rushing yards and 324 passing

“We’ve never really been a throwing team, so you’re never going to find some earth shattering numbers at our quarterback position,” Fecko said. “But he’s done a great job in leadership and running and throwing the ball.”