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Mooney made key play in win
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Springfield Shawnee quarterback Brad Jarzab had already completed 4-of-11 passes for 152 yards. Furthermore, his 1,363 yards on the season and near 3,000-yard career passing totals are nothing to slouch at.
But with the Division III championship hopes in his hands, he was off by mere inches.
Trailing 21-14 with under two minutes left in Friday’s state final against Cardinal Mooney, his fourth-and-six pass attempt to Tyler Sherrock fell incomplete.
If Mooney’s Ryan Farragher wasn’t there to break it up, though, it very well could have been the Braves (14-1) celebrating their first state title win, rather than the Cardinals’ eighth.
“Ryan has been doing that all year,” Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said. “He’s been somebody that has done a good job of playing the football well. He did that, obviously, on the last play.”
It wasn’t just that final play that made things interesting — it was the entire final drive.
With three minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the game, Shawnee took over on the 20-yard line after a Marcus McWilson punt rolled into the end zone.
It picked up two first downs, but on a fourth-and-10 play, the Cardinals (11-3) were flagged for defensive pass interference giving the Braves an automatic first down and new life. Two plays later, another Mooney interference call advanced the ball inside the Cards’ 20-yard line.
P.J. Quinn was sweating on the sidelines.
“I was real nervous,” Mooney’s quarterback said. “That final drive seemed to last forever. It was something else watching the pass interference plays. We knew it wasn’t going down like that. I knew our guys would never give up, that’s one thing I knew. They had to keep it going.”
The Cardinals sure did.
They wouldn’t allow another first down and only surrendered nine yards after the pair of interference calls.
And that final play was one both sides will never forget.
“I was .. .happy,” Quinn exclaimed.
“My heart sank,” said Shawnee defensive lineman Lucas Sparks.
Farragher, though, was at a loss for words.
“I’m just happy I made that play,” the senior said. “No other way to say it.”
Jarzab said he picked up a strong rush from Courtney Love, who was giving him troubles all day.
“I dropped back to look for it and it wasn’t there so I got out of the pocket,” he said. “For a second, I looked at [running] but I wasn’t sure I could get [six].
“Then I saw a receiver [Sherrock] in the back of the end zone and it didn’t go our way.”
The Farragher tip was just one of many stout plays pulled off by the Mooney defense.
The unit limited a potent running game to 90 yards and held the Braves to just 62 yards through the air.
“We had done a pretty good job all night of playing defense against the run and the pass, especially with the amount of points they put up over the year,” Fecko said.
Comments
ok mooney won. great job. now quit beating it into the ground
Congrats to the Cardinals for winning the state. But, the season is/ was marred by failure to beat the the dreaded Irish across the river.
We didn't come close to any state wide recognition, but, we did beat Ursiline in 1958, the first meeting of the two cross town rivals.
The only key play that mattered was ensuring that the right guys were recruited.
@arod It's funny how you actually believe the students are recruited to play football. When are the coaches getting the time to do this when they play from September to November and have practices all summer? Get real, kids go there because they have the best opportunity to develop into the best they can be.
Good heavens Ursuline---GET OVER IT.
You do know that there is a mooney sports team that has a state record for loosing the most consecutive games to a local public school that started in the 70s and still continues today. Why doesn't the vindy ever talk about it? I 'll let you mooney scholars figure out what sport and what team has been woopin you guy's every year.
@devin, you seriously believe that the BEST football players year in and year out go to Mooney just for the education? Get a clue, formal practice doesn't even begin until Aug 1. There is plenty of time to recruit from now until the beginning of practice. Just admit it, it's been going on for years.
Congratz to the Cards for bringing home another state title to the Valley. These are all kids from the area and should be supported for their efforts. Let the whiners complain all they want about "recruiting", because that's what losers do; they don't try harder, they complain. Believe it or not, there were public schools that won championships this year. I wonder how that happened? Was it because they whined about the effort it took to become champions? No. They won because the the school, coaches, players, parents, community and boosters put in the work it takes to build a strong program. You see this year after year from public schools like Coldwater, Steubenville, Canton McKinley, etc, etc. Yes, there are only a handful of publics that become champions, but that's because becoming a champion is a rare thing that actually takes extraordinary effort and dedication by all people involved with the program. So my advice to losers is to stop whining and start working.
@arod Formal practice doesn't begin until Aug. 1 but that doesn't mean there not practicing. It's highschool football EVERY school starts way before August 1. No I didn't say the best go in year in and out neither did I say just for the education. All I said is there is no recruiting and good athletes go to schools with good success and coaches. But I'm sure the academics help.