Correspondent photo / Michael G. Taylor. Urusline running back Christian Lynch runs for a big gain Friday night at Youngstown State University during Ursuline’s 13-7 victory over rival Cardinal Mooney.

YOUNGSTOWN — Despite meeting 68 times, Ursuline had never beaten Cardinal Mooney four years in a row — until Friday night.

Despite getting off to a fast start, the Fighting Irish overcame an uncharacteristically low-scoring night from the offense to hold off the Cardinals 13-7 in a slugfest to close out the regular season at Stambaugh Stadium.

“Cardinal Mooney is a great football program and I’m talking historically, it’s a great football program every single year,” said Ursuline head coach Dan Reardon. “So to be able to beat them four times in a row is hard to do. I’m proud of our seniors — my first year coming back, when they were freshmen, we snuck a win (over Mooney) that year. That’s how it goes in a rivalry — the team that is supposed to win, doesn’t always win. That was a great win for our program and really gave us confidence moving on these last few years.”

As they are known to do, the Irish started off strong, racing out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

While Ursuline’s potent offense continued to move the ball and pick up yards throughout the game, finishing with 358 total, that didn’t necessarily translate to points on the scoreboard.

The Irish also consistently found themselves behind the sticks with penalties, finishing with 12, especially pre-snap penalties.

“We have to finish (drives) and we had a number of penalties that put us behind the sticks and we have to do better there,” Reardon said. “Some of that stuff was controllable and that’s something we’re always harping on with our guys, which is to control what you can control and minimize unforced errors. That’s something we have to do better at. We are lucky to get a win with the number of penalties we had.”

Mooney’s defense also played a role in Ursuline’s offense stalling out at times. The Cardinals were able to get the Irish offense off the field in third and fourth-situations, forcing several turnovers on downs throughout the game.

“We were trying to change it up every play,” Mooney head coach Carl Pelini said about his defense. “(We wanted) to give them different looks, different pressures, play base and just try to keep them confused.”

However, the Cardinals turned the ball over four times, and the Irish were able to score 10 of their 13 total points off those turnovers. The Irish finished with no turnovers.

Mooney quarterback Ashton O’Brien threw three interceptions, while the Cardinals fumbled the ball once in the first half, as well. O’Brien finished 13-for-21 for 151 yards and scored Mooney’s lone touchdown on a 15-yard shovel pass to Alec Delsignore on the opening drive of the second half.

“It was hard fought right down to the wire,” Pelini said. “We forced them into a lot of penalties but they forced us into some turnovers. We’ve been really good about forcing turnovers all year, I think we’ve had 11 interceptions, but we didn’t get any turnovers tonight and I think that was the difference.”

The Cardinals still had their chances, though.

After the quick touchdown on the opening drive of the second half, Mooney blocked a punt on Ursuline’s ensuing drive and again had a short field.

But, Ursuline’s defense held strong and forced Mooney into what would have been a game-tying 23-yard field goal, but the Cardinals missed it wide left.

Then, after the Cardinals defense forced a turnover on downs with 5:40 left. Mooney had a chance to drive down for the game-winning touchdown.

With Mooney facing 3rd-and-short in Ursuline territory, O’Brien rolled to his right, but was relentlessly pursued, dragged down and sacked by Ursuline’s Ty’Req Donlow for a 13-yard loss to force 4th-and-15 with just over two minutes left.

“I just knew we had to get a stop,” Donlow said. “If we got a stop, the game was most likely over.”

The Cardinals went for it on fourth down, but got pressure on O’Brien again, forcing him into his third interception of the night, which fell into the hands of defensive lineman Casey Leugers.

Despite being forced into some tough situations, Ursuline’s defense continuously rose to the occasion throughout the night. The Irish held Mooney to just 201 total yards, in addition to the four turnovers.

“I think our D-line played well,” Reardon said. “First, we were able to minimize their running game [50 yards on 27 carries] for the most part. That forced them to throw, which allowed our D-linemen to loosen up a little bit and we have some good pass rushers and they showed that. For us to get that number of sacks [4], that’s notable against a kid like (O’Brien), who can move and keep plays alive.”

With the regular season complete, Ursuline sits at 8-2 in Division III, while Mooney is 4-6 in Division V. The Irish have clinched a top-four seed and a Ursuline playoff game in Region 9, while Mooney awaits confirmation of its playoff fate. According to the OHSAA computer rankings on joeeitel.com, Mooney could finish as high as a 13-seed in Region 17 or could miss the playoffs completely.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com