Cougars blank Irish

YOUNGSTOWN >> There are two things a quarterback loves to see.

One is a receiver sprinting downfield with a defensive back or two losing ground in his wake.

The other is a receiver going up and winning a one-on-one matchup with a defender.

Lake Catholic’s Joe Malchesky witnessed both before the end of the first quarter against Ursuline on Sept. 13. The junior quarterback put the ball on the money each time for long touchdown passes, and the Cougars dominated the Irish, 36-0, at Youngstown State’s Stambaugh Stadium.

Malchesky threw touchdown passes of 45 yards to Justin Pike and 67 yards to Christian DeMitro, both seniors, in a span of 2 minutes, 50 seconds late in the first quarter.

Malchesky found Pike wide open behind two Ursuline defenders and hit him in stride.

“That’s exactly what you want to see as a quarterback,” said Malchesky, a first-year starter for the Cougars (2-1). “I saw Pike get open. … He scared me for a second, but he ended up getting in the end zone. It was a great feeling.”

After an Ursuline punt, Malchesky rolled right and delivered a 50-50 ball deep over the middle to DeMitro, who made a leaping grab at the Irish 25 and raced to the end zone for a 67-yard catch and run and a 14-0 lead with 51 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“Christian is a three-year starter,” Malchesky said. “He’s a great athlete. Oneon-one, you’ve got to have faith in him out there.”

Malchesky finished 9 of 19 for 188 yards. He also had a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. Senior running back Seth Rich ran for a 2-yard touchdown and senior Luka Eller kicked field goals of 39 and 25 yards for Lake Catholic.

The Cougars also scored on a third-quarter safety when the winless Irish (0-3) snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone while trying to punt.

“It was a challenge coming to Youngstown,” Lake Catholic coach Marty Gibbons said. “(Ursuline) Coach Reardon does a nice job and that is a storied program, so we knew we were going to see a tough football team.

“We were also late getting here on the bus, so there were a lot of things that could’ve gotten in the way of these guys having a great performance tonight. But they were very levelheaded in their approach, and they did a good job of handling everything.”

Little went right for the Irish, who were without starting QB Matthew Reardon. The junior was injured last week in a 27-7 loss to Austintown-Fitch and was not cleared to return against the Cougars.

Ursuline used two QBs — sophomores Brady Shannon and Trent Hill — but never generated much through the air. Shannon was 7 of 18 for nine yards and Hill, more of a runner, attempted two passes.

Hill accounted for 138 of Ursuline’s 166 total yards on 26 rushing attempts, but much of that yardage came in the fourth quarter.

“The last couple of weeks, we played with a lot of effort,” Reardon said of losses to Benedictine and Fitch. “Tonight we made some mistakes early and we didn’t have that same sort of focus.

“No disrespect to them, but we blew two coverages (on the TD passes). One was a blown coverage and the other, we were in position but didn’t make the play.”

“He’s a great athlete. One-on-one, you’ve got to have faith in him out there.” Lake QB Joe Malchesky, on Christian DeMitro