NDCL ready to attack rugged NCL Blue

The rugged trek of the North Coast League’s Blue Division begins this coming weekend.

If you ask NDCL coach Andrew Mooney, though, league play started in Week 5.

The Lions ran their record to 5-0 with a 44-7 win over Cleveland Heights. Heights isn’t a member of the NCL, but Mooney instructed his team to ramp things up for the Tigers in its final tuneup heading into league play.

NDCL opens NCL play on Sept. 29 against visiting Benedictine (4-1), the start of a slate that also includes Walsh Jesuit (2-3), Lake Catholic (3-2), Akron Hoban (4-1) and Padua (5-0).

“I told the guys to take the mentality that it’s a league game, and they know what that means,” Mooney said. “(Cleveland Heights) was a great tuneup, because they know what a heavyweight fight it’s going to be the rest of the year.

“I think this league is the best league in the area. You can’t let one (game) drop because you never know which victory will put you in the playoffs.”

A year ago, NDCL finished 7-3 in the regular season, then advanced to the third round of the Division IV, Region 13 playoffs before bowing out with a 22-9 loss to Perry in the regional championship game.

If not for a 24-7 win over Padua in Week 10, NDCL would not have qualified for the playoffs.

“You look back and say, ‘That’s the one that put us over the edge,’” Mooney said of victories that put his team over the hump and into the playoffs. “It’s just a tough, tough league, and you’ve got to be ready every week.”

He can run, too

Many know the defensive prowess of NDCL’s Manni Malone.

With 14 tackles for loss and five sacks through four weeks of play, Malone was very well on his way to validating himself as one of the best — if not the best — defenders in the area.

This past weekend, Malone showed how versatile he is with a 16-carry, 144-yard rushing game in a 44-7 win over Cleveland Heights.

Malone got the nod at running back with regular starter Kyle Medves a little nicked up.

“We knew he could do that,” Mooney said. “We just know how big of an impact he has on defense, too, so that’s where he (gets most of his reps). But he can play both sides of the ball.”

Malone had touchdown runs of 30 and 5 yards. Mooney said Medves will be “checked out first thing Monday morning,” and that the Lions are hopeful to have him back soon. Depth is NDCL’s ally. “Going into the season, we knew we had five guys who could be very good backs,” Mooney said. “Manni plays mostly defense out of necessity, and he is very good at it. He is built to be a power back.”

Fink dials back the clock

If the play Brush ran for its game winning touchdown against Kenston on Sept. 22 looks familiar, that’s because it should.

With Kenston holding a 48-45 lead and 9.8 seconds remaining, Brush quarterback Godwin Joe took the shotgun snap, briefly rolled right, then reversed his field and hit Zack Dixon on an out-pattern in the corner of the end zone.

It’s the exact same play the Mentor Cardinals ran to beat St. Ignatius, 57-56, in triple overtime in a Division I regional championship game on Nov. 17, 2012.

The offensive coordinator for Mentor that year — Brush’s current head coach Jeff Fink.

The co-coordinator in the box for Mentor that night — Kenston’s current head coach Jeff Grubich.

That year it was Mitchell Trubisky flipping the ball to Brandon Fritts for the game-deciding score.

This time it was Joe-toDixon for the win.

“I was having flashbacks there. It’s the same thing as Trubisky-toFritts,” Fink said. “It’s the exact same play we threw to Fritts in that overtime game. They got a little pressure on us and we went to the other side.”

Eagles making strides

Off to an 0-4 start, the time for moral victories was out the window for the Geneva football team.

With a 55-14 win over Beachwood, Coach Chip Sorber’s team got its first win of the season. The Eagles will go for two in a row this week against visiting Harvey.

“We weren’t playing bad football,” Sorber said. “In fact, we were playing pretty good football. We just hadn’t gotten over the hump. We have played a fairly brutal schedule and had just been coming up short.”

Geneva’s four losses were to Madison (2-3), Mogadore (5-0), Warrensville Heights (3-2) and West Geauga (2-3).

Behind Kyle Stark’s fivetouchdown night, Geneva got an important “W” for team morale.

“We’re young,” Sorber said. “We start six sophomores and two juniors on offense. It was tough to be 0-4, but we told them all we’re a good 0-4 team, even if our record doesn’t show it.”

“Moral victories are only good for so long. We told them before the game, ‘If you’re going to make a move, the time to do it is now.’”