Staff photo / Brian Yauger Mooney senior Nick Pregibon rushes in to try and take the ball away from West Branch sophomore Gavin Clemens.

YOUNGSTOWN — Cardinal Mooney wanted to come out and set the tone early in its sectional bracket final contest against West Branch.

Scoring a goal less than two minutes into the game is a good way to do that.

Dominic Graziano’s quick goal gave Mooney the early edge it wanted, and the Cardinals rode that momentum to a 5-1 victory over the Warriors.

“West Branch is a good team. They’re a quality opponent. We knew we had to play one of our better games to take home the victory and keep going and thankfully, we were able to set the tempo,” Cardinals coach Matthew Britton said. “That was the big thing we worked on. We wanted to set the tempo. We wanted to dictate the pace of the ball. We wanted to control it. We wanted to keep West Branch on the backfoot and thankfully, we were able to get that done.

“Scoring that early you know, definitely sets the tempo, sets the tone for the game that we’re not here to mess around.”

And mess around they did not, scoring four first-half goals compared to West Branch’s one.

One of those goals came from senior Nick Pregibon. Pregibon missed a good chunk of the year with an MCL injury, but is back in time for a tournament run.

“That’s a huge benefit to them and that’s another big-time leader coming back into the fold,” Britton said.

Mooney has been playing angry following its upset defeat to rival Ursuline earlier in October.

After picking up some big wins over strong teams, the young Cardinals squad needed a reality check. While you never want to lose, the 2-1 rivalry game loss is looking to be the exact medicine Mooney needed right before the tournament.

“They were getting a little too complacent,” Britton said. “We just came off a tie with Western Reserve Academy which is basically a college team, it’s not even a real high school, and we went toe-to-toe with them. They were starting to get a little too big-headed so (in a way) I’m really thankful for (the Ursuline game.) I told them going into the game that Ursuline is going to come with the best game they’ve played all season and they did.

“Thankfully though, they got the wake up call. They needed it. They needed to be grounded. (And better that it happened in the regular season) because now there’s no tomorrow. If you lose now, you’re done.”

West Branch’s season ends at 12-4. For a program that is building its way back up, this was a promising start, but the work isn’t done yet.

The Mooney program is a benchmark — one the Warriors hope to reach.

“Mooney is a good team,” West Branch coach Sam Martucci said. “They were faster than us. They played the game better and it showed.

Having seen what they need to do now up close, the work begins for next season.

“We’ve got to be quicker,” Martucci said. “We’ve got to want the ball, got to move to space, got to play the game better. I think they got us out of our game and it’s frustrating and it showed.”

The Cardinals advance to Tuesday’s district semifinals, where they’ll face sixth-seeded Poland. Start time is set for 6 p.m. at a site to be determined.

byauger@tribtoday.com