Panthers trailed by 14 before rallying for road victory

By Jon Moffett

sports@vindy.com

Youngstown

Forget Labor Day — right about now, P.J. Fecko has got to feel like it’s Groundhog Day.

Last season, the head coach of Cardinal Mooney High watched as his squad was steamrolled by the Imhotep Charter School out of Philadelphia.

This year’s version of the game was significantly closer, though the Cardinals again fell short, 31-27, in their season opener on Saturday at Youngstown State’s Stambaugh Stadium.

Mooney’s 2013 campaign ended with a 10-5 record. And with a lot of familiar faces on the schedule this season, Fecko has got to be happy his squad fared much better against the Panthers.

Everything looked to be going the Cardinals’ way as they took a 14-0 lead before the scoreboard operator could even register the points.

A busted coverage in the Panthers secondary allowed senior wide receiver Chris Mitchell to haul in a long pass and take it 53 yards for a score on Mooney’s opening series.

A couple plays later, the Cardinals were given a gift as an errant snap sent the ball into the Panthers end zone and senior Kam Stringer pounced on the ball for a touchdown.

But the Cardinals also allowed two possessions inside their opponents’ territory to slip away. Fecko said that’s something you can’t do against a quality opponent.

“They’re a really good football team and we knew that coming in,” Fecko said. “Obviously, we had some chances and we didn’t do a good job of finishing. We didn’t come up with the points we needed.”

Fecko admitted his team “fell asleep” in the second quarter, which saw only three more points thanks to senior kicker Zak Kennedy’s 32-yard field goal.

Imhotep took advantage and scored 19 unanswered points to close out the half.

Senior receiver D.J. Moore caught a pair of touchdown passes of nine and 55 yards in the second quarter. He also had a 45-yarder in the first quarter, all coming off the arm of senior quarterback Andre Dreiutt-Parks.

The Panthers also scored on a 76-yard run by junior tailback Tyliek Raynor.

What may have been the difference in the game was the inability by Mooney to control the line of scrimmage with their ground game. As a team, the Cardinals rushed for 128 yards, but 59 of them came off of scrambles by quarterback Jon Saadey.

Tailback C.J. Amill lost his footing in the turf several times and finished with just 19 yards on 14 carries.

But the unfamiliarity with the playing surface early in the year was nothing compared to the unfamiliarity of the opponent.

Fecko said it’s difficult to prepare for a team with so little material to scout. But, he added, it doesn’t determine the outcome.

“It’s a situation where there isn’t a lot of opportunity in this area, for whatever reason, for us to play local teams,” he said. “But there’s still 11 guys on the field, and you have to score more points than they do.”