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VIDEO || Mooney scores early, often, in first-round victory
The Cardinals beat Field, 42-14, to advance in a game at Stambaugh Stadium.
By JOHN KOVACH
Vindicator Sports staff
- Gallery: Field vs Mooney
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Field vs Mooney November 6, 2009
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Video: Field vs Mooney
Field vs Mooney November 6, 2009
YOUNGSTOWN — The Field High football team’s strategy against heavily-favored and undefeated Cardinal Mooney on Friday night was to try to keep the powerful Cardinals’ offense off the field as much as possible.
But the Falcons’ planned tactics backfired right from the beginning against the talented and opportunistic Cardinals’ defense, in a Division III regional quarterfinal game at Stambaugh Stadium.
Mooney’s defense forced four turnovers in Field’s first six offensive series in the first half — three interceptions and one fumble recovery — to set up four touchdowns, and the Cardinals added two more TDs following punts to score on all six possessions and roll to a 42-0 halftime advantage.
Then with the Mooney subs getting an opportunity to play the second half, the Cardinals finished off the embattled Field team, 42-14, to advance to a regional semifinal next week.
Karrington Griffin, who came through with two of the interceptions, scored two of Mooney’s TDs’s on runs of 4 yards and 1 yard, while Ray Vinopal streaked 55 yards to another score.
In addition, Mark Brandenstein and quarterback Alex Zordich both tallied on 1-yard dashes, and backup quarterback Ed Reese raced 11 yards to the final TD as the Cardinals sent in the subs for their final scoring drive.
A.J. Fox kicked all seven extra points.
The other two turnovers were supplied by John Stoops’ interception and Pat DePizzo’s fumble recovery.
Junior running back Carmen Leonelli rushed for 110 yards in eight carries for Mooney, which was without injured senior running back Braylon Heard.
“They have a phenomenal team and we tried to keep them off the field [on offense] but our turnovers prevented that from happening,” said Field (8-3) coach Patrick Youel, who knew what his team had to do to have even a remote chance of winning.
“We knew coming in that we would have to keep their offense off the field as much as possible.”
But, “We turned it over and gave them a short field and they capitalized. The turnovers put the defense in a hole.”
Coach P.J. Fecko of Mooney agreed.
“Our defense did a good job of giving us good field position early in the game,” said Fecko. And, “We got some quick scores. We contolled the game early.”
In fact, “Right from the opening kickoff, we dominated the game. We were focused and determined.”
Every time Mooney’s defense delivered the ball, the offense ran at will and encountered little resistance until Field was able to score a pair of TDs against the Cardinals’ subs in the second half.
Quarterback Jay Wilson fired a 30-yard scoring pass to Aaron Polasky in the third quarter, and Wilson rambled 23 yards to another TD in the fourth period. Polasky added both placements.
Wilson was 7-for-17 passing for 78 yards and three interceptions.
The tone for the first half was set right after the opening kickoff when Field, after two penalties, had its back to the wall at its 4-yard line.
On the first play, Griffin intercepted a wobbly pass at the Field 24. Two plays later, Zordich ran to the 5 and then Griffin scored.
On Field’s next offensive series, DePizzo recovered a fumble at the Field 33, and then Brandenstein raced 32 yards to the 1 and also added the final yard for Mooney’s second TD.
And on Field’s next series, Griffin struck again with an interception at the Mooney 28, and the Cardinals went the 72 yards in seven plays to Griffin’s 1-yard plunge.
Then Mooney took a punt at its 30, and on the fourth play Vinopal raced 55 yards to the Cardinals’ fourth score.
And on Field’s next possession, Stoops intercepted a pass on a fake field punt and returned the ball to the Falcons’ 32. Griffin then scored on the next play but it was nullified by a penalty back to the 38 .
However, Zordich then reeled to the 21 and two plays later he ran to the 1 and then scored.
kovach@vindy.com
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Comments
Playing against Field, give me a break. Might as well have Ohio State play against Hiram.
I'm pretty sure Hiram would be more competition for OSU than Field was for Mooney but that's the result of the cheater parochials playing in the wrong divisions. Mooney toyed with the kids from Field. Come on OHSAA, fix this completely lopsided playoff structure.
Poland should have to move up a division also with the way they defeated a private school also, if that is how your reasoning works...
OHSAA does need to fix this, its ridiculous! C'mon, Ursuline is going to play CRESTVIEW!!! What a joke, I find it hard to believe that Ursuline feels good about this.
The catholic schools don't cheat, they recruit players and the OHSAA lets them do it. Can't blame Mooney and Ursuline and the other schools in this area for that. Lots of the local schools have open enrollment and have benefited from that as well. If a great player wants the exposure and an opportunity to play major college football they have to play against the kind of competition that will get them there, which means they go to Mooney or Ursuline. You also have to keep in mind that these are high school kids and they shouldn't be ashamed of playing with pride for their high school, no matter who they play in the playoffs or what division they are in. They are still 16, 17 and 18 year old kids and I remember quite a few years that Mooney and Ursuline didn't win their respective division state championships. I could see all this complaining if they won it every year but they don't, and actually hardly ever, so everyone quit whinning.
...um, the last time I checked, recruiting at the high school level was in fact called "cheating"! I don't think OHSAA "lets them do it", they can't prove they do it. They need parents to testify that their child was recruited from a catholic school, and if that catholic school is footing the bill do you really think the parents are going to open up???? Add in the fact that the catholic schools turn in a nice gate $$$, OHSAA keeps rolling! I don't blame the 16, 17 and 18 year olds, they are mere pawns, I balme the adults that work this thing! Hats off to the parents that keep thier kids in the public schools, if they're good athletes they still get recognized and move on. Not all college athletes come from parochial schools. Again, its the ADULTS that masterminded this catholic school mess, shame on them, if they really get their nuts off beating Crestview,......sad!!!
Apparently you have anger issues with this whole thing devildog and it is about the kids not you or me. Maybe the parents feel their children get a better education from going to a parochial school instead of a public school. I went to a public school and it doesn't nearly prepare you for going to college, and these excellent rating signs for all the schools that you see on the billboards has to be a joke, or the standards for excellence are not very high for the state of Ohio, and the Youngstown area. No not all college athletes come from parochial schools but a lot do, because in most cases they can meet the academic guidelines to be eligible to play imediately, and they are more discilpined because of their high school education and curriculum. If it is such a big issue for you call the OHSAA instead of demeaning the high school football players of this area, and the great traditions of football that is played here.
The parochials don't cheat? Of course they do, they just rarely get caught in a system that rewards their actions, make the OHSAA a ton of money, and as the above poster said, unless a kid or parents of a kid turn themselves in, it's nearly impossible to prove.
What's really laughable is the parochial supporters who think open enrollment levels the playing field. As if open enrollment was implemented to allow the public schools to cheat too. Open enrollment doesn't permit recruiting kids from 3 counties only bordering school districts.
I hope BrianTaurus isn't an example of the parochial education system. His spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure are lacking.
I will give Fecko some credit for calling off the dogs at halftime. They could have won by 80. But, that might draw the attention of the OHSAA. Certainly don't want that, it might get those lazy bums at the OHSAA to actually do something to fix this mess.
Poor poor Crestview. Ursuline is going to embarrass yet another small school. Can they possibly be proud of such mismatches?
Another comment above is humorous. The claim that kids go to the parochials for the college offers that they get there. That's also a complete and total lie. If a kid is good enough, it doesn't matter where he plays, colleges will see them. Most of the NFL kids from this area didn't go to Mooney or Ursuline but went elsewhere including some small schools.
As a Mooney grad, I'm disgusted and ashamed of this continued unfairness. Teams like Crestview will never be able to win a state title with the likes of these cheater parochials in their divisions.
WELL MAYBE THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS SHOULD ONLY DRESS THE SAME AMOUNT OF PLAYERS AS THE PUBLIC SCCHOOL NOT THE 70-80 THEY DRESS. I BEING FROM PA. WOULD LOVE TO SEE SOME OF THESE TEAMS DRESS THEIR 30 BEST PLAYERS AGAINST FARRELLS 30 MAN ROSTER OR THERE 50 BEST VS WILMINGTONS ROSTER