BY GREG GULAS
      Boardman News Sports
      bnews@zoominternet.net
      From 2015-24, the Cardinal Mooney Cardinals’ football team struggled through a decade that produced just three winning seasons (2016-17, 2022), went a combined 46-60 (.434) overall yet outscored opponents in five of those campaigns.
      The Cards were 46-60 (.434) overall, posted a 26-29 (.473) home mark, 19-27 (.413) away ledger and went 1-4 (.200) in neutral site contests despite defenses that held opponents to a mere 20.7 (2,091 points allowed) points per outing and offenses that finished just shy (2,159 points scored, 20.4 per game) of the numbers they allowed.
      The eight-time state champion Cardinals, who have won titles in four divisions over the years, turned to CMHS alum Frank Colaprete last season to return the program to its winning ways and in his first season at the helm, Colaprete did nothing to disappoint either administration or its rabid fan base.
      Colaprete proceeded to oversee a group of upstart players that finished the season 10-3 (.769) overall, weathered a two-game tailspin early in the season that turned into an eight-game win streak two rounds into the playoffs before their third-round exit to the undefeated Wheelersburg Pirates, their deepest post-season run since 2022 when they also went 2-1 in the post-season.
      According to Colaprete, the key to last season was very simple.
      “I just stood true to who we are coming here,” he said. “My parents went here, my dad coached here, all my sisters went here and we grew up knowing the Mooney way, just staying true to what I was raised in and how I was raised. You do that for the school and our players kind of gravitated towards that.”
      A year ago, 50 players came out for Colaprete’s first team while this time around, he welcomed over 70 players who will comprise a squad that went 7-0 at home last season, outscoring opponents by a 374 (28.8 ppg) to 209 (13.9) count or an average of 14.9 points per fray.
      “We just have to keep working hard while the players must continue to believe in themselves, believe in what we are doing,” Colaprete added. “Trust each other, play for each other and the rest will take care of itself. It’s about a willingness to play hard, play for each other and be disciplined. Last year, our senior group did that. That’s the Mooney way and they bought in, but they had family members, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters that that went here so it was easy for them to understand how we do things.
      “They were an amazing group as far as leadership and work ethic. They showed the younger guys the way and provided them with the blueprint. Now, this senior group has taken hold of that and they are running with it.”
      The Cardinals will run a basic spread offense with a lot of run-pass options while their defense is based off of a 4-4 but transitions to a 4-2-5 with all the RPO possibilities.
      “We want to run the ball so we went back to who we are, just with different formations than the old stacked-I,” Colaprete stated. “We went back to our roots and we run the ball, then throw off of it.”
      Mooney lost 12 starters from a season ago, counting on 10 returning starters – five on each side of the ball – to pave the way for the newcomers who will be lining up for their first game versus Mentor Lake Catholic on August 21 at YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium.
      Offensive returnees include quarterback Vince Gentile, fullback Brady Desmond, wide receiver Mike Schiraldi, center J.T. Smith and right tackle Darren Simpson.
      Defensively, the Cards return free safety Tyree Dawson, cornerback Brayden Bryant, nickel back Desmond, linebacker Rocco Zabel and end Dom Letlow will bolster a unit that held opponents last year under 20 points on nine occasions, allowed seven points or less three times while permitting 14 points or less on eight separate occasions.
      The Cardinals’ 374 points last season were the most scored by a Mooney squad since notching 400 points during the 2013 campaign when they went 10-5 overall.
      Gentile, who threw for 1,422 yards and 14 touchdowns in ’25, will be pushed by Massimo Furr for signal-calling duties, Desmond (308 yards, six touchdowns) is in a battle with Rocco Haas at fullback while Dawson (365 yards, three touchdowns) and Logan Guerrieri are seeking time at the running back slot.
      Gavin Sentner and Senator Johnson comprise one group of receivers with Schiraldi (12 catches, 128 yards, two TD’s) and Mike Schorsten comprising the other group, a unit that hauled in a combined 93 passes a season ago.
      Dom Letlow and Zabel will battle for time at tight end.
      In addition to Smith and Jaydin Daniels at center, Delonte Carter and Brayden Rios are the left guards, Devon Perry and Jack Arquilla the left tackles while on the right side look for B.J. Granberry and Jaiden Hall at guard, and Simpson and Tyrus Sheeler at tackle.
      On defense, Perry and Carter are one set of tackles, Granberry and Smith the other tackle hopefuls with Furr and Anthony Brock battling for time at one of the end positions, and Letlow (41 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, two sacks) and Rios the other end slot.
      Zabel, who led the team last year with 150 tackles, 25 tackles for loss and 10 sacks, and Haas and Schorsten comprise the linebacking corps. Last season Vabel earned first team, All-Ohio laurels in Div. V.
      The nickel backs are Desmond (54 tackles, nine TFL’s, one sack) and Guerrieri (21 tackles), Johnson and Adam Varley will battle for time at one cornerback with Bryant (19 tackles) and DaJuan Dukes the other cornerback hopefuls.
      Dawson (29 tackles) and Jack Kollar are the free safeties with Schiraldi and Sentner strong safety candidates.
      Special teams include Zabel and Schiraldi at long snapper, Desmond and Rios the punters with Anthony Spirko and Gio Whetstone the kicking candidates.
      The Cardinals have seven home games and three road contests and after they host Mentor Lake Catholic in their season lidlifter on August 21, the team will travel to Garfield Heights to take on the Bulldogs (August 28).
      The team will then play consecutive home games against Canfield (September 4) and Steubenville (September 11), closing out first half action at Akron Buchtel on September 19.
      They open up second half play on September 25 when they host St. Francis of New York in the first of three consecutive home frays, entertaining Cleveland Benedictine (October 2) and Warren Harding (October 9) before closing out the regular season on the road at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (October 16) with the regular season finale set for October 23 at home versus arch-rival Ursuline on YSU’s Dwight ‘Dike’ Beede Field.