November 12, 1994
Benedictine 33, Youngstown Mooney 13
Warren – It was the third game – all in the state playoffs - between Benedictine and Youngstown Cardinal Mooney.
The teams met for the first time in 1981 at the Akron Rubber Bowl with Benedictine scoring a 21-17 upset over Mooney with a furious fourth-quarter rally. The Cardinals had been nationally-ranked in several publications. A few years later, the Benedictine football alums voted that 1981 come-from-behind victory as the greatest game in school history.
Then in 1985, Mooney pulled an upset over the Bengals in one of the worst playoff losses in school history, 47-0, once again at the Akron Rubber Bowl.
This time, Mooney was the favorite, having finished the season as the top-ranked team in Region 13 while Benedictine was third. At this time, only the top four teams qualified for the playoffs.
And, once again, the underdog sprung the upset.
Benedictine convincingly handled Mooney 33-13 at Mollenkopf Stadium.
Paul Svigel wrote in the Sun Messenger that “The smaller, quicker Bengals dominated the bigger Cardinals in every phase of the game in taking a 2-1 series lead.”
There were some individual highlights.
Senior QB Joel Jelinek threw four touchdown passes for the third time in the season. Three of the TD tosses went to Kevin Coffey.
The defense did their part. Long-time legendary Mooney coach Don Bucci said, “We had to establish our running game and as the (Benedictine) scores were mounting, we didn’t have a chance to do so.”
The Bengals held the Cardinals strong running attack to only 76 yards.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Bengals got on the scoreboard on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Joel Jelinek to Jarritt Goode to take a 6-0 lead.
After holding Mooney on downs, the Bengals drove 73 yards for another score, this time on a 38-yard Jelinek-to-Coffey touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed and the Bengals led 12-0.
The Bengals then used a little trickery as sophomore Mike Zelenka recovered an onside kick at the Cardinals 41-yard line.
It took only one play for a score with another Jelinek-to-Coffey touchdown pass. The quick-strike touchdown took place only 22 seconds after the previous score. The two-point conversion was good and the Bengals led 20-0 with 2:40 left in the second quarter.
Mooney finally got on the scoreboard later in the second and trailed 20-7 at halftime.
After a fumble recovery by John Cirino in the third quarter, the Bengals used that turnover to move 70- yards in just five plays. Chauncey Berry took the ball the final 20 yards for the touchdown. That gave the Bengals a 27-7 lead.
The last Benedictine score came with 10:03 left in the game on another Jelinek-to-Coffey touchdown pass. Tom Bogo kicked the extra point to make it 33-7.
Mooney got its final points on a touchdown with just 11 seconds remaining in the game.
Berry finished the game 123 yards in 19 carries.
Coffey finished with 128 yards on seven catches and two touchdowns. Goode had three catches for 88 yards and also had two touchdowns.
Although Ryan Ryzner did not have a big game, he did not go unnoticed by the Mooney defenders with consistent double-coverage. Goode explained after his first touchdown, “I just got behind the cornerback. They were paying attention to Ryan (Ryzner).”
Notes: In the next round of the playoffs, the Bengals defeated Brookfield 26-6, and then lost Orrville 54-27. Orrville lost in the state title game, 34-24, to Germantown Valley View.
It was the first year as head coach for Al Hodakievic ’72, who led the Bengals to a 10-3 record. Hodakievic replaced the legendary Augie Bossu, who stepped down in the spring of 1994 after 39 seasons as head coach.
In 1995, Benedictine and Cardinal Mooney began a regular season series that ran until the 2010 season. In 2011, the Bengals joined the North Coast League.
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Wally Mieskoski ’71
Benedictine Football Historian
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