Through the first one-and-a-half quarters, the Streetsboro Rockets’ football team was cruising. They then experienced their first true test of adversity when Cardinal Mooney scored 14 unanswered points but the Rockets responded with a methodical second half to oust the Cardinals 42-21 in the first round of the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV Region 13 playoffs last Friday evening at Rockets Stadium’s Quinn Field.
“Considering our opponent and their history but also what we saw on film from this year, we felt in our preparation that this would be the best defensive group we had seen all year,” said Coach Pete Thompson. “I was pretty impressed that we got out to a heck of a start on Friday night. We thought we were going to roll. Twice in the second half, they made it a 7-point game and we were able to get the ball back and extend the lead each time so we are super pleased with our kids’ effort.”
It marked the second time since Thompson became the Streetsboro head coach that the program reached 11 wins in a season. The Rockets will welcome Northwest to town in the second round this Friday at 7 p.m.
“It is somebody we have some familiarity with,” noted the eighth-year coach. “Two years ago, we were a real young team, and they were a veteran team and they put it on us pretty good in the playoffs in 2022 at their place. They have the same coaching staff but there is some familiarity there.”
Last Friday, Streetsboro (11-0, 7-0) raced out to a 21-0 lead in the middle of the second quarter. After senior quarterback/defensive back Cohen Klimak scored his second touchdown of the game on a seven-yard run to increase the Rockets’ lead to 21-0, Cardinal Mooney made a change at quarterback.
When sophomore quarterback Vince Gentile entered the game, Thompson said that Cardinal Mooney’s offense had a new look. The change proved effective as the Cardinals scored 14 unanswered points between the end of the second and beginning of the third periods, trimming Streetsboro’s lead to 21-14.
According to Thompson, it was one of the first times all season that an opponent had mustered a response against the Rockets. He added that Streetsboro did not help itself during that stretch by committing several offensive penalties, causing some drives to stall out.
“It was disappointing,” he noted. “That was something we tried to harp on at halftime and we really said this to our kids on the offensive side of the ball, if we don’t turn the ball over and we do not commit penalties, it is going to be very difficult for kids to stop us and our kids believe in that.”
After the Rockets’ lead was cut to a one-possession game, Streetsboro responded with a long drive, capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Klimak near the end of the third quarter, pushing the Rockets’ advantage to 28-14.
Although Cardinal Mooney responded with another touchdown on the first play from scrimmage on the ensuing possession when junior wide receiver/defensive back Dennis Clark caught a 78-yard touchdown pass from the 6-foot Gentile, trimming Streetsboro’s advantage to 28-21, the Rockets went right back to work and scored 14 straight points to oust Cardinal Mooney from the postseason.
Having operated with a quick-strike offense throughout most of the season, the Rockets engineered several long touchdown, drives in the game and pushed Cardinal Mooney to its limit.
Despite the Cardinals having fewer two-way players compared to Streetsboro, Thompson said by the end the Rockets still had plenty of steam while Cardinal Mooney’s players showed signs of fatigue.
“I thought we wore them out in the fourth quarter in particular,” he said. “It is just a testament to how hard our kids work during practice. We ride them pretty good in practice and they work their tails off and at this point in the season we are still conditioning to be ready for those four quarter games.”
After nine weeks of dominating their opponents and triggering running clocks in the second half, the Streetsboro starters needed to play all four quarters of football to finish off the Cardinals.
As far as Thompson was concerned, seeing the starters play a full game of football eased some concerns about their stamina.
He also credited the Cardinals’ defense as being the toughest defense Streetsboro had faced this season, but the Rockets’ offense still overwhelmed Cardinal Mooney by recording 460 yards of offense, including 355 yards on the ground.
