By Tom Williams

williams@vindy.com

CLEVELAND

The Cardinal Mooney High football team hopes its season ends on a much happier note than how it began.

Saturday at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the defending Division III state champions had their hands full with St. Ignatius, last year’s Div. I kings.

Wildcats quarterback Michael LaManna, making his first varsity start, passed for 255 yards in the Wildcats’ 31-7 victory over the Cardinals.

“That’s an outstanding football team,” said Mooney coach P.J. Fecko who added that playing in an NFL stadium wasn’t a factor. “It was some good offensive execution, maybe somebody being a little out of position.

“This type of team will make you pay for any mental mistakes or where you are just a little out of position,” Fecko said. “They will capitalize.”

The Cardinals were in trouble almost immediately after Marcus McWilson shanked a punt for 18 yards on their first possession. Three straight pass completions by LaManna put the Wildcats ahead for keeps. Timothy McVey caught the third one along the sideline and bulldozed his way into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

“We came [with a goal] to send a message early,” said McVey, calling the drive “perfect. “Everyone did their job exactly like they were supposed to, everybody was making great catches and the line was opening up some holes.”

LaManna passed for 158 yards in the first half in posting a 21-0 lead.

“He did everything great,” Mooney linebacker Courtney Love said. “We’ve just got to get better as a whole.”

The Wildcats’ second scoring drive covered 68 yards and featured four completions. Roc-Anthony Zingale capped the march with a one-armed grab in the end zone.

“We knew he’s a really good quarterback,” Fecko said. “He did a real good job of reading his hot receivers.

“And that big offensive line bails him out a little bit and keeps people off of him,” Fecko said. “Between the run and the pass, they were able to keep us off balance and cause some issues for us.”

With 47 seconds remaining before halftime, McVey scored on a 3-yard run.

“We were smashing it,” McVey said. “It’s hard to tell what we’re going to do — they were getting pretty frustrated, you could tell.”

Despite the lopsided first-half score, the Cardinals ran 35 plays, rushing for 99 yards. Mooney finished with 50 carries and 188 yards on the ground.

“We bent a little bit,” Wildcats coach Chuck Kyle said. ”We tried to keep good field position, tried to make them drive 90 yards or 80 yards. They are a good team that’s going to get some first downs.”

The Wildcats need little more than half of the third quarter to score their final 10 points. On the third play of the second half, McVey broke loose for a 42-yard touchdown. Six minutes later, Michael Colella kicked a 21-yard field goal for a 31-0 lead.

With seven seconds remaining, Mark Handel scored Mooney’s touchdown on a 60-yard run.