The Irish appeared to receive a sign from the heavens when a downpour occurred 60 seconds before their kickoff to Chaney in the opener Thursday at Stambaugh Stadium, and Ursuline then went on to a 29-6 victory.

After a touchback, Cowboys quarterback Delshawn Petrosky fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Ursuline recovered at the Chaney 14-yard line.

The Irish got Chaney to jump offside on a key fourth-and-2 from the 6-yard line. Following the automatic first down, Ursuline scored on Trenton Hill’s 3-yard run for a 6-0 lead just 59 seconds into the contest.

“Stealing an early possession like that and cashing in on the opportunity was a great way to start the season,” Ursuline coach Dan Reardon said. “I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out, but we stumbled some early on offense and needed a big play at the end of the half.”

Staff photo / Brad Emerine Chaney quarterback Delashawn Petrosky, left, tries to read the block of teammate Cam Sly in the Cowboys' 29-6 loss Thursday to Ursuline.

Despite having three possessions beginning near midfield in the first quarter, the Irish were a bit sluggish offensively, but finally put together an 8-play, 52-yard march that upped their lead to 14-0, as quarterback Brady Shannon connected with Matthew Reardon for a 32-yard touchdown pass. Reardon then threw to Terrell Dillworth for the two-point conversion.

But what turned out to be perhaps the biggest play of the contest was made by Hill on defense, as he sacked Petrosky on the final play of the first half when the Cowboys were trying to score a late touchdown.

Facing a second-and-goal with six seconds remaining, Petrosky tried to escape pressure by rolling to his right. The Cowboys, sans a timeout, could not stop the clock after the sack.

“The two big factors were the fumble to open the game and then not scoring late in the first half,” Chaney coach Chris Amill said. “If we score there, it changes the entire momentum and who knows what happens.

“Obviously, this was our first chance to hit somebody other than ourselves and it’s tough for everyone not having any scrimmages. But now we have something to work with.”

Reardon called it the play of the game.

“That was definitely the play of the game,” he said. “I don’t know if we make that play last year. We had our backs to the wall and (Chaney) was threatening to get right back in the game. We kept our poise. I think we showed some good things tonight.

Ursuline tacked on its third score midway through the third quarter when 6-foot-4 receiver Dean Boyd hauled in a 28-yard touchdown toss from Shannon.

After a 52-minute weather delay seconds into the fourth quarter, the teams returned to the field.

Ursuline promptly marched 80 yards in eight plays with Marc Manning grabbing a 27-yard scoring toss from Shannon and Dylan Peplowski adding the PAT kick for a 29-0 lead that produced a running clock.

The Cowboys scored on the game’s final play as a heavily-pressured Petrosky found Anthony Caulton, who made a nice grab on a 5-yard touchdown pass.

“That’s something we can work with,” said Amill, whose squad lost to Ursuline 27-26 last season en route to finishing 6-4. “Our kids didn’t quit and we just made a few costly mistakes.”