YOUNGSTOWN — Cardinal Mooney has reached no shortage of milestones on the gridiron over the years.

Several players have reached the Division I ranks, a handful went even further to play professionally, numerous team playoff appearances and eight state titles.

Chalk up another milestone on that list as the Cardinals reached win No. 500 on Friday in a 37-0 victory over Youngstown East.

“To be just a small part of that, I think about all the great players and coaches that have come through Cardinal Mooney, I’m just a tiny part of it,” Mooney coach Carl Pelini said. “All the players on this team, we’re all part of it. Everybody who’s ever put the uniform on is part of it and everybody should be proud.”

Things got going for the Cardinals after a defensive stop and quick drive down the field, culminating in a 15-yard pass from quarterback Ashton O’Brien to Carlos Gomez. Just a few minutes later, Mooney tacked on another score to close out the first quarter with Adyn Paige crossing the goal line from two yards out.

Mooney’s defense was the highlight of the night, stalling the Golden Bears at every opportunity. Right before halftime, East was knocking at the door for a touchdown, but the stout Cardinal Mooney defense held strong, tackling Golden Bears quarterback Andrew Blackmon at the one-yard line to maintain the shutout in the first half.

The defense has been a key part of Mooney’s success all season according to Pelini.

“Defensively I’m very pleased,” Pelini said. “We have three seniors at linebacker who’ve been backups for three years and have stepped up this year. (These guys really) understand the defense. I feel like this is the first time since I’ve been here that our guys really understand our scheme, know how to make all the checks. We don’t have to make many calls, just play base. We play fast and play hard.”

That being said, it’s not just the defense that’s been winning games. The offense has been doing its part as well. A glut of talent on the underclassmen side, including a strong freshman class have been working wonders for the Cardinals.

“(Offensively) there’s some young skill that has a lot of speed and we start four or five freshmen and play six or seven significantly,” Pelini said. “The team is really starting to come together and gel together and I like where we are right now. We’ve had a couple close losses that could have turned our season around but sitting at 3-3 right now, we’ve given ourselves a chance (at playoffs).”

Mooney joins elite company with its 500th win as the sixth Mahoning Valley team to reach the milestone. Harding, Ursuline, McDonald, Niles and East Liverpool have all reached it as well.

“It feels amazing to be a part of something so special like this,” Cardinals senior Robert Hardy said. “I mean, 500 wins. Not many teams in the state have done that or even America. 500 is a lot, especially considering how our school was only founded in 1956. Some schools have been around for way longer than that and don’t have the number of wins we have.

“It’s not just the wins, we don’t have many losses either compared to a bunch of other teams in Ohio.”

Now that win No. 500 is out of the way, the Cardinals are now looking toward win No. 501. After three-straight weeks on the road, Mooney returns to its stomping grounds at E.Z. Whittaker Field in Weathersfield to host the Brush Arcs.

“(For the rest of the season) every week for us is going to be a difficult task,” Pelini said. “We have Brush coming up and then we have Harding and then we finish with Steubenville and Ursuline, those are all difficult teams to answer. We just need to keep getting better like we’ve been.”

East hosts Howland on Friday.

byauger@tribtoday.com