Big Red falls to Mooney

CANTON - It was too much too soon from a Youngstown Cardinal Mooney team that was simply too big and too fast. Stopped short of the 15th game, Big Red saw its season end with a 45-7 loss to the Cardinals in the OHSAA Division III state semifinals, Friday, at Fawcett Stadium.

"Mooney was the better team tonight. We didn't get first downs and we didn't tackle," Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia. "It wasn't so much their speed, as it was we had bad angles and we didn't move the football. Tonight just wasn't our night."

Steubenville was able to answer the Cardinals' first seven points, but after that it was all Mooney and more specifically Braylon Heard. Heard finished the game with 298 yards and three touchdowns. The WVU recruit scored on runs of 43, 65 and 94.

"Braylon has been doing those kind of things all year," Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said. "But there are a lot of people involved in making him go. I think those people upfront do a great job and have been all year of opening holes and establishing the line of scrimmage."

The Cardinals' oversized line - Dom Davis (6-foot, 300 pounds), Eric Starr (6-foot-1, 290), Mark Pelini (6-foot-1, 285 pounds), Zach Larson (6-foot-3, 285 pounds) and Sam Congeni (5-foot-10, 240) - controlled the game from start to finish.

The Red struggled to get anything going offensively or a big defensive stop. Averaging over 371.9 yards of offense per game, Steubenville was held to just 117 85 passing and 32 rushing. Mooney meanwhile finished 456 total yards with all coming on the ground.

The Cardinals capitalized on its first possession of the game when Alex Zordich capped off an 81-yard drive with a 4-yard run at 4:11 of the first quarter. A.J. Fox as he would after every TD, split the uprights.

Big Red tied the game by marching 80 yards on eight plays. Jesse Birden ran in from 3 yards out to put the Red on the board at 10:43 of the second quarter. Anthony Pierro made good on the PAT.

Heard broke the tie with his 43-yarder at 8:23 of the second. He ran in from 65 yards two minutes later. Ray Vinopal gave Mooney a 28-7 lead with a 30-yard TD run at with 1:09 left in the first half.

In the second half, Fox hit a 43-yard field goal to make it 30-7 at 6:24 of the third. Heard next broke out on his 94-yard scoring run with 3:06 remaining in the third frame. Ed Reese would score from two yards out with 6:34 left in the game to wrap up Mooney's scoring.

Mooney will now meet Columbus St. Francis DeSales, a 24-7 winner over Cincinnati Wyoming, in the Division III state championship game at Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Friday morning.

For Big Red, its season ends at 12-2. The Red rolled through its toughest schedule in recent years, defeating WPIAL Class AAAA powerhouse Woodland Hills, Division I Massillon, an undefeated Poland Seminary team, and lost a heartbreaker to Inkster, Michigan.

"Our kids had a great season and a great run. I have nothing negative to say about anything that we did this season or anything we did tonight. They played their hearts out," Saccoccia said. "I know tonight hurt worse for them out there on the field then it did for me on the sidelines. It hurts right now and it's going to hurt tomorrow.

"I know they say 'that it doesn't matter if you win or lose it's how you play the game' but it does matter. I'm not going to be politically correct and tell you it doesn't because it does.

"You play to win, and our kids wanted to win tonight. Things just didn't work out for us."

The latest Mooney win gives the Cardinals a 5-1 edge over the Red. Mooney defeated Big Red twice in the playoffs in the 1980's and upended the Red, 35-20, in the 2007 regional finals. Steubenville defeated Mooney, 28-16, last season in the regional semifinals en route to a state final appearance.

The two squads have made 27 state appearances between them Big Red has 13 and Mooney has 14 and have played in 15 state championship games. Big Red has three state titles. Mooney has six.

"Steubenville had a great year and year in and year out put a quality football team on the field and this year was no different," Fecko said. "We were fortunate to gain momentum early and execute on big plays that jumped us ahead. We were able to play sound defense behind it and seal the victory."