Team

Cardinal Mooney

Record	Div.	Conf.
7/5	Div. IV	Independents

Team

Boardman

Record	Div.	Conf.
6/5	Div. II	All-American Conference Gold Tier

Cardinals spoil Spartans’ stadium debut

By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Former Boardman High School, University of Miami and NFL standout Bernie Kosar took part in pre-game festivities to help his alma mater dedicate its new football stadium Friday night.

But another Boardman native — Cardinal Mooney quarterback Jack Lynch — crashed the opening of Spartan Stadium.

Lynch passed for 175 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a score as the Cardinals beat the Spartans, 31-6. David McDowell caught two of Lynch’s touchdown passes.

Lynch and McDowell, who both sat out last Friday’s season opener against Maryland’s Mount St. Joseph agreed that it’s a lot more satisfying to contribute than watch from the sidelines.

“Our season opener didn’t go as planned, so all eyes were on us to see if we would bounce back. The key tonight was that we went at them from the first play of the game,” Lynch said. “All week long coach [P.J.] Fecko told us to forget about last week and just get ready for this week. We know that Boardman is a tough opponent that doesn’t back down from anyone. This was a hard-hitting game and one that was really fun to play in.”

The Cardinals, who lost 53-12 to the Gaels in Week 1, needed just under five minutes to register the new stadium’s first score as McDowell caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Lynch.

McDowell missed the Cardinals’ season opener with a knee injury.

“We had some players missing last week, but everyone stepped up today,” McDowell said. “Trusting the guy in front of you and in back of you to make plays was the difference tonight.”

Cardinal Mooney (1-1) increased its lead to 12-0 at intermission when Lynch scored on a 14-yard run at the 4:31 mark of the second quarter.

“We did a better job of taking care of the football today than we did a week ago,” Fecko said. “Three turnovers last week ago backed us into a corner after the first three series and it caused us to get out of our gameplan. I don’t believe in the theory that you make the biggest improvement between Weeks 1 and 2. I do believe, however, that you have to continue to improve each and every week over the course of the season and today we were a much better team than we were a week ago.

“A game like this is a tribute to the fans of the Mahoning Valley. There was a lot of energy and emotion and not only was it great for the Boardman Community, but for local football as well.”

Andrew Armstrong, a Bowling Green State University early commit, caught three passes for 97 yards and a touchdown and also intercepted a pass from his linebacker slot — one of three turnovers by the Spartans.

His 49-yard pass from Lynch at 7:23 after halftime stretched the Cardinals’ lead to 18-0. McDowell caught a 34-yard pass from Lynch at 4:13 of the third to make it 24-0.

Wide receiver Travis Koontz helped the Spartans avoid a shutout when he hauled in a 12-yard pass from J.R. Ryan to make it 24-6. Ray Anderson’s 62-yard run with 1:40 remaining rounded out the scoring.

“The emotion was definitely there. We just weren’t able to get anything going tonight offensively,” Spartans coach Joe Ignazio said.

The Cardinals racked up 396 yards, including 221 on the ground.