Staff photo / Greg Macafee Cardinal Mooney quarterback Ashton O’Brien throws a pass while being pursued by Steubenville’s Alikwon Harris.

MINERAL RIDGE — Cardinal Mooney started off strong Saturday afternoon, but Steubenville proved to be too much in a battle of storied programs.

After the Cardinals scored the first touchdown of the game with just over two minutes remaining in the first half, the Big Red scored 28 unanswered points in a convincing 28-7 victory at Mineral Ridge’s Joe Lane Sports Complex.

“We just had a letdown game and I’m not happy at all about how we played,” Cardinal Mooney head coach Carl Pelini said. “Obviously we just didn’t have them ready to play today.”

In the first quarter, it seemed as though the Cardinals were ready to bring their A-game for a matchup where they would need it as Steubenville entered the game with an overall record of 7-1.

Steubenville’s lone loss came against Linsly (W.Va.), a team Mooney lost to 28-14 earlier this season.

On their first drive of the game, the Cardinals moved down the field behind running back Adyn and Camryn Paige. But after a seven-yard pass from quarterback Ashton O’Brien to wide receiver Nolan Radinsky, the drive seemingly stalled out in Big Red territory.

A 4th-and-1 run by Alec Delsignore fell short and the Cardinals turned the ball over on downs.

The defense responded though and forced a quick three-and-out by Steubenville to give the ball right back to its offense.

After a punt, the Cardinals stitched together a 10-play drive that culminated in a 12-yard touchdown pass from O’Brien to Delsignore in the back-right corner of the end zone.

The drive was highlighted by the passing game as O’Brien hit both Radinsky and wide receiver Ty Reali with big gains and a Steubenville face mask allowed the Cardinals to convert a key fourth down.

But the Big Red wasn’t going away.

“It’s a 48-minute game, it doesn’t matter who scores first, who scores second, or who scores third,” Steubenville coach Reno Saccoccia said. “It’s a 48-minute game and we just have to make sure our players are ready to play 48 minutes, no matter what.”

Almost four minutes later, Steubenville answered Mooney’s first touchdown with one of its own, as Phaeton Hill hit Issac Hill with a simple shovel pass at the line of scrimmage and Issac took it 30 yards to the end zone.

That touchdown kicked off a three-score 2nd quarter for Steubenville.

Steubenville put together a 9-play scoring drive on its next offensive drive which was highlighted by a 46-yard pass from Phaeton to Issac Hill. But a 23-yard pass to Kyjhuan Hopkins capped it off as the Big Red took the lead for good.

With just under three minutes to go in the first half, it seemed as though the Cardinals were going to stop the bleeding as they forced a Big Red three-and-out. But, a muffed punt kept Steubenville alive and the visitors took advantage.

Phaeton Hill scrambled to the left six plays later and found Hopkins for another score from seven yards out to cap off the first half scoring.

Steubenville used a mix of passing and running to earn the win and Saccoccia said that they were able to execute their game plan throughout the afternoon.

“You can’t be a one-dimensional team against Mooney, they have too much pride in themselves and they are too good of a football team, they have too good of coaches,” Saccoccia said. “Mooney has a great tradition and you can’t just do one thing against them and that was our game plan. We were going to keep mixing it up and make them defend everything.”

Steubenville capped off the scoring late in the third quarter to secure the win when the two Hills connected for a 33-yard strike to put the game away.

A week after erasing a 17-point deficit in a win over Warren G. Harding, the Cardinals dropped to 5-4 on the season.

“We just needed to execute on both sides of the ball and we didn’t play well for whatever reason and that’s all on me,” Pelini said. “Just gotta get that fixed for next week.”

Cardinal Mooney will take on rival Ursuline to finish off the regular season next week.