Cardinal Mooney High School’s grid revival continued last Saturday night when the top-seeded Cardinals up-ended the South Range Raiders, 48-12, in Ohio Div. 5 quarterfinal regional play at Stambaugh Stadium.
      Mooney, under first year Head Coach Frank Colaprete, improved to 8-2 on the season and moves into regional semifinal action against #4-seeded Garrettsville Garfield (9-2).
      Following a scoreless first quarter of play that saw both teams stage 7-play drives, South Range got the ball back late in the quarter after Raider sack on Card quarterback Vince Gentile forced a punt.
      Six plays later, at the 10:32 mark of the second quarter, Raider tailback Jason Vorshak took a pitch from South Range quarterback Nathan Toy and scampered 33 yards to the end zone for the first tally of the game. The Raiders went for a two-point conversion and failed when Rocco Zabel stuffed a run.
      It didn’t take the Cardinals long to answer, just three plays---After Ike Lake was taken down on a first down run by Raider Will Gehring, Gentile lofted a long, second down aerial to Kingston Powell all the way to the South Range 26 yard line. Tyree Dawson then broke free and darted 26 yards to paydirt with 9:15 still on the first quarter clock. A Jacob Gugliotta PAT kick put Mooney up, 7-6, and the Cardinals never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
      On South Range’s next possession, Card linebacker Dom Letlow gave the Raiders a taste of things to come as he tipped a pair of Toy passes to force a punt.
      Mooney’s next possession was stopped on a fumble that was recovered by Dan Landis near midfield.
      When Brian Lyons tipped a Toy pass on South Range’s next possession, it forced a field goal try, but Drew Starkey’s kick missed the mark and the Cards took over deep inside their own territory.
      Keyed by a block by Kejuan Dean, Mooney’s Brady Desmond squirted down the left side of the field on first down on a 78 yard run to the 5 yard line. From here, Lake broke behind a block from J.T. Smith to give Mooney into a 14-6 halftime margin.
      The Cards got the first possession of the second half and couldn’t advance and after three plays went into a punt formation on their own 28 yard line. But upback Tonnie Badie took the snap from center and darted to the 28 yard line for a first down. Momentum for the rest of the game stayed with Mooney.
      Two plays after the fake punt, Lake broke three tackles on a 71 yard TD run at the 9;49 mark of the third quarter, Another Gugliotta PAT increased Mooney’s lead to 21-6.
      South Range couldn’t respond as Letlow dropped Toy on a first down play, Zabel took Toy to the turf on third down and Dewey Heard’s takedown on a fourth down try gave the Cards the ball back deep inside South Range territory at the 29 yard line. A Gentile pass to John Brenner moved the ball to the Raider 5 yard line and following a penalty against the Cards, Desmond used a block from Mike Schiraldi to notch Mooney’s fourth score on the game from 10 yards out.
      With play moving into the final stanza, the Cards increased their lead to 34-8 at the 11:47 mark when Gentile connected with Brenner in a 27 yard TD aerial.
      Mooney moved to a 41-6 margin at the 6:47 mark of the fourth period on a Ty Dawson 65 yard scoring burst.
      South Range added their final score of the night on the next series on a Toy 77 yard pass to Starkey.
      It wasn’t a momentum shifter for the Cards as Badie took the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. Another Gugiotta PAT made it a 48-12 final.
      Mooney finished with 475 yards in total offense including 305 yard rushing.
      Lake paced the Mooney ground attack with 100 yards on 14 carries while Dawson had 92 yards in three runs and Desmond logged 87 yards in three carries.
      Gentile finished with 169 yards through the air, completing 11 of 22 passes. Kingston Powell had four catches for 65 yards to pace Card receivers, while Brenner, Mike Schiraldi and Jaie Manningham each caught two passes.
      Toy posted 193 yards through the air for South Range on 11 of 22 passes.
      Mooney’s staunch defense limited the Raiders to just 3 of 13 third down conversions. Zabel had a dozen tackles for the Cards while Badie had 7 takedowns and Letlow’s 6 takedowns included a pair of tackles for losses and three pass break-ups.
      Mooney seeks a berth in the Div. V regional finals against a Garfield team that earned its berth with a 48-31 win over St. Clairsville. The G-Men enter the game averaging 434 yards of offense a game, including 368 yard rushing.
      Garrettsville is averaging close to 43 points a game on the season.
      Through ten games, Mooney’s defense has yielded its foes 15 points a game.