Correspondent photo / Michael G. Taylor Ursuline’s CJ Leombruno braces for contact from a Chaney defender.

YOUNGSTOWN — Better late than never for Ursuline.

It took a quarter for the Fighting Irish offensive engine to get going, but once it did, Ursuline was on cruise control, as the Irish defeated Chaney 32-16 on Friday night at Stambaugh Stadium to remain unbeaten.

“We were a little off kilter or something in the first quarter, I felt, offensively,” Ursuline head coach Dan Reardon said. “I think the defense played a really nice two-and-a-half, three quarters of football, but obviously we gave up a couple scores late.”

Ursuline was scoreless in the first quarter, as the Irish struggled to move the ball against the Cowboys’ stingy defense. Quarterback Jack Ericson started the game 1-for-5 passing, while the run game netted -5 yards on its first five carries of the game.

But a 35-yard run by running back Christian Lynch finally broke things open for the Irish offense at the end of the quarter.

“Usually, it just takes one play,” Reardon said of the spark for the offense. “One big gain, then we have the ability to back that up with some tempo. We always like to play fast, but you need (plays) in order to play faster. If you’re behind the sticks, it’s hard to do that.”

Despite facing a third-and-20, Ursuline scored on the first play of the second quarter, as Ericson hit receiver Devonte Taylor on a curl route down the sideline. Taylor came back to make the catch, then took off around his defender down the sideline.

That score was the start of a four-touchdown quarter for the Irish. By halftime, Ericson had thrown two touchdowns and run for another, while Lynch capped off the first half with a 24-yard touchdown run up the middle of the Cowboys’ defense.

“Second quarter, I thought we played with good tempo. That’s something we always strive to do,” Reardon said.

Ericson finished 18-for-26 for 219 yards and two touchdowns, while Lynch picked up 116 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. Taylor had 65 yards on five catches to go with his score, while DC Ferrell led the receiving corps with 75 yards and a touchdown on five carries. Ferrell also picked off Cowboys quarterback Drew Gault in the first quarter.

Chaney led a 13-play drive on its opening offensive possession, churning out yards and chewing up the clock. But it resulted in no points, as the Cowboys turned it over on downs in plus territory.

For the rest of the first half, the Cowboys found themselves behind the sticks on most possessions as they racked up penalties. Chaney had nine penalties in the first half alone, and finished with 13 for the game.

“We didn’t execute (early). They stuffed us down there one time, and then there were a couple third-and-shorts that we weren’t able to pick up,” Chaney head coach Seth Antram said. “We talked about (the penalties) at halftime. Two false starts on third-and-shorts and then not executing. Offense, defense, either side of the ball, when you get off pace, it’s hard to put up points.”

The Cowboys finally managed to get their offense going and got on the board at the start of the fourth quarter when Gault hit Javeon Young on a go-route for a 27-yard touchdown pass.

After the score and a successful two-point conversion, Chaney used its momentum and got a stop and went down and scored again. This time, the Cowboys marched 93 yards against Ursuline’s defense and capped it off with a three-yard touchdown connection from Gault to Jordan Hewlett.

Gault rebounded from a rough first half, in which he was 1-for-8 for six yards and a pick, to finish 10-for-19 for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Jones had 89 rushing yards on 18 carries for Chaney.

“At halftime, we just talked about finishing — finishing the right way, picking each other up and finishing together,” Antram said. “Things started clicking a little bit for us.”

Next up for the undefeated Irish is the highlight of every regular season — the season finale showdown with archrival Cardinal Mooney in the Holy War. Chaney ends the season with Youngstown City School rival East.

“It’s a lot of excitement for both schools,” Reardon said. “It’s been a great rivalry over the years and one big part of it is that a lot of our kids know their kids. Many of them went to the same grade schools, so there’s a familiarity with each other. Many of them played middle school football together. It’s just a great Youngstown rivalry.”