By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

Cardinal Mooney travels to Peninsula Woodridge to take on the fourth-seeded Bulldogs in a Division IV, Region 11 first-round playoff contest.

Head coach P.J. Fecko’s Cardinals begin their quest for a ninth state championship as a fifth seed, on the road and having dropped three of their last four regular-season games.

Being on the road shouldn’t pose any problems, Fecko noted as his team begins postseason play.

“We’re no strangers to travel and are used to making trips so that shouldn’t be a factor. We’re accustomed to it,” he said. “As for Woodridge, they’re an excellent team and they’ve put together a really nice season. Their quarterback does a good job of managing the team offensively; they rotate three backs and have an excellent receiver. They also play solid defense, are well-coached and at playoff time you wouldn’t expect anything less.”

The Cardinals (5-4) also have a strong quarterback of their own in Jon Saadey, who has passed for 702 yards and five touchdowns, rushed for 466 yards and four more scores. Saadey directed the offense to 2,350 total yards, an average of 261.1 per game.

Turning out 1,000-yard rushers has been commonplace for the Cardinals over the years, yet they enter this year’s tourney without a back reaching that plateau.

In addition to Saadey, four other running backs have combined to post 1,570 yards or 95.3 percent of their ground yards.

Those four backs are top rusher C.J. Amill, who has racked up 518 yards and five touchdowns. Anthony Gill, whose 419 yards include a team-leading seven scores. Jordan Jones, who has accrued 111 yards and a team best 5.4 yards per rush among runners who have carried the ball at least 20 times and Ray Anderson, has 66 yards and three scores to his credit.

A seasoned line has given Saadey plenty of time to find his favorite targets, including Jack Reider, the team leader with 11 catches (160 yards, two touchdowns) and Chris Mitchell, the only other receiver in double-digits with 10 receptions and 173 total yards.

Saadey also utilizes Breyshon Lott (six catches), D.J. Andrewson (four catches) and tight end Andrew Armstrong (five catches with a team high 18.2 yards per catch).

Defensively, Jordan Jones is the Cardinals’ leading tackler with 25 (3.5 for loss) while Armstrong (21.5 tackles, 4.5 for loss) and Roosevelt Cooper (20 tackles, seven for loss) are the other defenders with 20 or more tackles on the season.

Kam Stringer, who has seven tackles for loss, is tied with Cooper for the team lead.

Woodridge (7-3) will be playing the Cardinals for the very first time.

However, Bulldogs’ head coach Jeff Decker is no stranger to the eight-time state champions.

Decker served as defensive coordinator at Chagrin Falls when Cardinal Mooney posted a 24-14 win over the Tigers in the Division III semifinals back in 2011 en-route to their most recent state crown.

“When a program has won as many state championships as Cardinal Mooney, you have nothing but the utmost respect for them. They’re an excellent club that gets the job done at both ends of the field,” Decker said.

Barking signals for Woodridge is Tom Finegan a duel-threat player.

His running attack features Brandon Williams, who also lines up at linebacker defensively. Don Baker and King Sanders, sophomores whose playing time increased steadily from the midpoint portion of the season.

“It’s an added luxury when you can rotate three backs so expect a lot of running between these two teams,” Decker said.

Despite dropping three of their final four regular season contests, Fecko feels as if his team is primed for the postseason.

“We play a tough schedule and in our last four games, other than the St. Edward’s game, we played well in three of four quarters. That one quarter proved costly. We learned from those games and while we fell just short, we’re as prepared as we can be now for the playoffs,” he said. “Our players know what’s ahead of them and they are ready to go.”