Lake Catholic vs. Cardinal Mooney

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Team

Cardinal Mooney

Record	Div.	Conf.
4/6	Div. IV	Independents

By Matthew Peaslee

mpeaslee@vindycom

Youngstown

Stambaugh Stadium isn’t an amusement park, but it might as well have been Friday night. Mooney and Mentor Lake Catholic took a roller coaster ride for the final two minutes.

The Mooney sidelines erupted when quarterback P.J. Quinn led a 10-play, all passing drive which ended with a 10-yard strike to Quincy Jones in the middle of the end zone giving Mooney a 27-22 lead.

At this point, Lake Catholic coach Mike Bell admitted he was scared. Just three minutes earlier the Cougars were up 21-7 and ready for a comfortable drive back to Mentor.

Kick returner Aaron Phillips made sure the hour and ten minute ride would indeed be smooth.

He took a kick 58 yards to the Mooney 2-yard line. The Cougars then scored with only 19 seconds left on the clock.

“It was supposed to be a certain return, but it didn’t work because of the way they kicked it,” Phillips said. “I just decided to do what I could to give us good field position, caught a seem and took it down.”

John Stepec then punched it in for his third score of the night. The return came after two consecutive illegal procedure penalties for kicking the ball out of bounds, forcing Mooney to kick from the 30-yard line.

The Cougars sat comfortably with a 21-7 lead with just 4:11 remaining in the game. After Lake Catholic quarterback Mark Baniewicz was forced out of the back of the end zone for a safety, Mooney fought back with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Marcus McWilson. Lake Catholic opted to run the ball on their next possession, but Baniewicz coughed it up, giving Mooney the ball back, leading to their final scoring drive.

“It was maybe one of the craziest games I’ve ever been involved in,” Bell said.

Mooney head coach P.J. Fecko agreed.

“It was obviously a roller coaster,” he said. “It was back-and-forth there at the end and unfortunately we had to come up on the losing end of a hard-fought game.”

Mooney and Lake Catholic both featured similair offensive attacks that focused on running the ball and the clock. The Cardinals’ first scoring drive lasted nearly nine minutes and went for 18 plays. The Cougars averaged 10 plays on their scoring drives.

“I think that’s probably what our identity is right now and I know that’s what Cardinal Mooney’s identity is right now,” said Bell. “Controlling the ball, moving the chains, stopping the clock, that’s what were trying to do.”

Fecko did like the rate of play on his team’s final drive. “We did a good job with our sense of urgency on the field,” he said. “The guys knew what they had to do with the position we were in.”

Quinn finished 10 of 15 with 121 yards. Roosevelt Griffin ran for 75 yards on 10 attempts.