Mooney blockers set tone in rout of rival

By John Bassetti

sports@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

They had no yards of which to speak, but they helped Cardinal Mooney immeasurably in a 31-7 win over Ursuline on Friday night.

They are center Julian Thomas, guards David McDowell, Zach Dundics and Kyle Clegg and tackles Scott DeLung and Nick Maxin, tight ends Andrew Armstrong and Dan Stevens and fullback Christian Lowery.

“They did a good job of grinding it out up front, which was our game plan — to control some clock and control field position,” coach P.J. Fecko said of Mooney’s line and blocking back, who combined for 259 yards, while the Cards’ defense held Ursuline to 42 on the ground in a battle of playoff-positioned independents at Stambaugh Stadium.

“We switch in a lot of backs so they could be fresh and throw it up in there and not wear down,” Fecko said in describing the wear and tear in the trenches. “Our guys up front are used to that persistency [by fresh ballcarriers] and sometimes, as the game goes on, teams aren’t used to the pounding and things started to crack and, as the game went on, you saw bigger holes and bigger runs.”

Quarterback Jon Saadey threw to Andrew Armstrong for a touchdown pass and Saadey ran for another as part of his 136 yards on 14 carries.

Ray Anderson scored from 3 yards out, Anthony Gill ran 29 for another TD and Zak Kennedy had a 46-yard field goal for the winners (5-3).

Dakota Hobbs tallied for the Irish (6-3) on an 80-yard TD pass play from Vito Penza and John Hintz had the extra-point kick.

The discrepancy was most obvious in Mooney’s 19-5 advantage in first downs with 259 rushing yards to Ursuline’s 42.

Aside from the offensive line, Saadey’s good instincts on option plays and bootlegs were much of the reason for Mooney’s success.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game,” Saadey said. “After they took an early lead, we just fought back.”

Saadey said that missing a few players due to injuries called for the “next man up” response.

Mooney’s leading rusher, C.J. Amill, didn’t play due to an ejection against Buffalo (N.Y.) Canisius last week.

Jordan Jones had one of his biggest games, offensively, with 44 yards on eight carries, but the 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior also had a big sack on Penza in the last quarter.

Roosevelt Cooper also had sack in the fourth quarter and recovered a partially blocked punt that gave Mooney some breathing room in the third quarter.

Ursuline coach Larry Kempe had one explanation for the loss: “They just beat us up front — that’s the bottom line,” he said of the struggle against the Division IV Cards. “For a number of games, we were able to win up front, but we didn’t do it tonight and they did.”

After the partially blocked punt by Aaryn Jones, Kempe said that his Irish tried to field the ball, but lost it.

“We should have stayed away,” Kempe said of the live ball after Irish players tried, but failed, to control it. “Kids are trying to make plays, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t a very smart play.”

With Mooney ahead, 10-7, Cooper recovered at Mooney’s 40 and, seven plays later, Saadey saw Armstrong open down the middle and hit the 6-2, 220 junior for a TD. Zak Kennedy’s PAT put the Cards up, 17-7.

“We were on a little bit of a run and I thought we were well prepared,” Kempe said, “but we didn’t execute like we wanted to; some [of the reasons] is because of them and some is because of us.”

Also for Mooney, Lowery had a fumble recovery, while Ursuline’s John Martynszyn also had a recovery.

Mooney took a 10-7 halftime lead on Kennedy’s 46-yard field goal as time expired at the half.