Photo

Photo by: KELLI CARDINAL

Cardinal Mooney running back Mark Handel races with Imhotep Charter defender Nyeem Thrones during a game Aug. 31 at Stambaugh Stadium. The Cardinals lost the game 49-21, but have earned a spot in the postseason thanks to a 6-4 record.

By Kevin Connelly

kconnelly@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

As the Cardinal Mooney football team walked off its practice field just after 7 p.m. Monday evening, the darkness of the night provided a powerful backdrop on a program that has become accustomed to success this time of year.

The Cardinals had participated in the postseason nine consecutive years, but a surprising 3-6 season last year snapped that streak.

Head coach P.J. Fecko called the feeling of being at home in November “different.” Senior Mark Handel said it was their “motivation the whole offseason to get Mooney back on track.” Center Nick Bilas went as far as to call it “really upsetting.”

Everyone in the program can breathe easy again, because Cardinal Mooney is back in the playoffs after a 6-4 season. It might be difficult for a school that’s won eight state championships in its history to fly under the radar, but Fecko has always been one to leave the past in the past anyway.

“The perception of things really doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s the playoffs and you have to go and perform. It doesn’t matter the history of success or history of failure, you’ve gotta go out and you’ve gotta play.

“That’s the beauty of high school football and having a playoff system.”

Although this year’s team might not have an impressive record on paper, the fact is its four losses have come against teams with a combined 37-2 record. Cardinal Mooney’s most impressive game may have come against Austintown Fitch in the final week of the regular season.

It was a 19-14 loss, but the Cardinals went toe-to-toe with a Division I school and caused real problems for the Falcons’ high-powered offense at times.

“We’ve played some pretty good teams, so I think some teams could overlook us,” said Handel, who’s a two-way starter for the Cardinals. “Playing a tough schedule is almost a good thing because it helps us with some of the competition we’re going to see come playoff time.”

The Cardinals are the third seed in Region 11 of Division IV, so they will host Cleveland John Hay (8-2, and the sixth seed) Friday night at YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium. Two other area teams, Lakeview and Struthers, are in the same region and will play each other in the first round.

“I think that the most important thing — we’ve been in the playoffs a bunch of times and made a lot of runs at it — is that in the playoffs you worry about yourself,” Fecko said. “You worry about getting better each and every week and not so much the opponent. It’s all about your team and how you prepare and how you work every day.”

Defense has been the reason this year’s Mooney team has thrived. In their six wins, they have held opponents to an average of just more than 11 points. However, in the four losses the Cardinals have allowed 33.5 points per game.

“As a unit they’ve been playing well,” Fecko said. “There’s some people that have done a great job of defeating blocks and getting to the ball, but the overall attitude of that defense has been pretty stingy and playing some good ball.”

On offense, Cardinal Mooney has a backfield duo of Handel and C.J. Amill, and opposing teams can expect to see heavy doses of both.

“We take pride in that, because that’s what Mooney football is all about,” Bilas said. “That’s what we’re all about — breaking down the opponent mentally.”

As the first practice of a playoff week concluded, there wasn’t an added seriousness among the players, or even a long speech about how this time of year is important.

At Cardinal Mooney, they know what it means — and how to deal with it.

“There’s absolutely no change from week one to now — I think that’s very, very important,” Fecko said. “It’s the way we’ve always done things. I think it’s important to have that consistent procedure and schedule that they get used to being in a rhythm with.”