Ex-Cardinals enjoying current team’s ride
YOUNGSTOWN
Assume that the state football playoffs are a pumpkin pie.
For Thanksgiving dinner dessert, former Cardinal Mooney players Dr. Jon Saadey and Brian Delahunty would both receive generous portions based on their teams’ final-four finishes.
As a junior, Delahunty played on the 1980 state championship team that beat Lebanon, 50-0. The next season — Delahunty’s senior year — the Cardinals lost a state semifinal to Cleveland Benedictine.
Saadey shared in the 1980 season’s crown as a non-letter-winning sophomore, then enjoyed another state title as a senior quarterback in 1982, when Mooney beat Toledo St. Francis in the Rubber Bowl
Pies aside, both are examples of men who continue to support the school long after they contributed athletically. Once their football practice days ended, both channeled their commitment to excellence in other ways: Saadey as a dentist and Delahunty in pharmaceutical sales.
Saadey, a 1983 graduate, also has a direct association with the 2013 team that awaits tonight’s Division IV semifinal showdown against Steubenville (9-4).
“Now, they’re trying to get there,” the 48-year-old Saadey said of this season’s Mooney squad (9-4), whose quest is the school’s ninth state championship.
Like 1982, a Jon Saadey is quarterback.
“They work hard,” the elder Saadey said of the team and his son, a junior who has started every game this season after taking over the role for the final four games in 2012.
“He’s a better thrower than I was,” Dr. Saadey said of a comparison with his son.
Dr. Saadey may have been talking about a play at the conclusion of the first half in last week’s win over Cleveland Benedictine.
“That was a hell of a play,” Saadey said of his son’s pass into the end zone where Denver Martin’s catch and Zak Kennedy’s PAT put Mooney ahead, 28-14.
“He got sacked right before that,” his dad said of Mooney being pushed back to the 42-yard line. “He took a bad sack, but, on the next play, Denver went up and made a great catch between two guys.”
Dr. Saadey knows that passing is secondary in Mooney football history.
“We have a running culture at Mooney, always have,” Saadey said. “But when they ask him [Saadey’s son] to throw, he can.”
Although Saadey was a year younger than Delahunty during the 1980 season, his recollection of the personnel was clear.
“We had so much talent that year,” said Saadey, who got plenty of playing time as QB and outside linebacker.
“I almost lettered because that team had so many blowout wins; I got a lot of time mopping up.”
Like his son now as a junior, the older Saadey, a former tri-owner of the defunct Mahoning Valley Thunder af2 indoor team, didn’t play defense his senior year, when the Cardinals finished 10-2.
“This team seems to have more talent than we did,” Saadey said of the present-day Cards. “But one thing in common is that the boys really bonded. They focused with a single goal and concentrated on getting better every week.”
According to his father, Jon Saadey, who turned 17 on Nov. 21, takes his orders from Mooney’s coaches.
“I barely talk any football with my son,” he said. “We talk about baseball and movies, but he hears enough football talk at practice. We’ll watch games together, but everything he’s learned on the field has been taught by his coaches. He’s always been in very competitive situations, so he knows how to handle himself.”
Delahunty, a 1982 graduate and Mooney Hall of Fame member, was an upback on offense and defensive end his junior year, when he was second-team All-Steel Valley Conference.
“They pretty much let me do what I wanted on the outside,” he said of his defensive position. “All they wanted was to make sure you contained. Other than that, I could do what I wanted.”
As a senior, Delahunty made first-team All-SVC and first-team All-NEO and special mention All-Ohio — all as a DE. A teammate and classmate was Jon Saadey’s brother, George,who played defensive back.
Like Saadey, Delahunty, 49, was surprised at Mooney’s recent win over Benedictine.
“It was 14-0 for the first five minutes,” Delahunty said of Benedictine’s early lead, “then Mooney scored 28 straight points. It didn’t look good at first, but I don’t think Benedictine expected Mooney to pass the way they did. The way they finished out the first half with that Hail Mary was awesome.”
He gave this opinion: “I think they’re peaking at the right time. Having the schedule they have puts them in position to execute the way they are. Getting past Benedictine was a big hurdle, but they’ve got another one in Steubenville.”
Delahunty didn’t have the same success against Benedictine in the 1981 season’s state semifinal.
However, the next time Mooney met Benedictine in the playoffs was in 1985, when Delahunty’s younger brother, Pat, was a senior and the Cardinals prevailed in the state semifinal before losing to Galion in the state championship game. Current Nebraska coach Bo Pelini was the QB and Pat Delahunty was a FB.
Although Brian Delahunty’s last two high school seasons reflected the thrill of victory and agony of defeat, respectively, Mooney’s won-lost record during his playing time wasn’t too shabby: 33-2.
Like Saadey, Delahunty didn’t letter as a sophomore, but Mooney went 9-1 (lone loss to Boardman), followed by a 13-0 state championship season. The Cards were 11-1 his senior year.
That prompted him to evoke a name from the past.
“One thing coach [Don] Bucci always told us that sticks in my mind is to never leave anything on the field because you’ll have regrets,” Delahunty said. “I regret that we didn’t beat Benedictine my senior season. It’s something I wasn’t used to dealing with, so I always think about that. Is there something I didn’t do? His point was to give 100 percent all the time. When I’m working, I do everything I can all the time and I think it’s served me well.”