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Football: Sarasota Cardinal Mooney 42, Indian Rocks Christian 7

 
Published Sept. 17, 2016

LARGO — Indian Rocks Christian (1-3) lost 42-7 in its home opener against Sarasota Cardinal Mooney (2-1) on Friday night.

The night got off to a bad start from the opening kickoff for IRC, which let the squib kick bounce backward; Jeremy Crist recovered for the Cougars at the Golden Eagles 23. They only needed two plays, both rushes by Bryce Williams, including a 15-yard touchdown, to go up 7-0.

Indian Rocks Christian got the ball at its 30 and responded with a 51-yard pass by Andrew Roberts to D'Whan Poole to move the ball to the Cardinal Mooney 19. The drive stalled and Carlos Rodriguez came on to try a 36-yard field goal but an errant snap was recovered by Rodriguez at the 32.

Cardinal Mooney took over at its 32 and only needed six plays to reach the Golden Eagle 5. After a 4-yard run by Williams on first down, three straight runs were stuffed at the goal line and IRC took over at its 1. The Golden Eagles punted and Cardinal Mooney took back over in Golden Eagles territory at the 42. Cardinal Mooney eventually found the end zone on a 2-yard run by Tristan Hillerich for a 14-0 lead.

Turnovers ruined IRC in the second quarter. A fumble by Poole while trying to extend a play gave Cardinal Mooney the ball back near midfield at its 42; the Cougars drove to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Williams. On the next possession Cardinal Mooney's TJ Blom picked off a pass by Roberts to give the Cougars possession, setting up a touchdown on a gadget play. On a halfback pass, Williams threw a 43-yard touchdown to Doug Polk to put the Cougars up 28-0 at halftime. A 10-yard run by Williams in the third quarter put Cardinal Mooney up 35-0, starting the running clock.

Key drive: Indian Rocks Christian's lone scoring drive came in the third quarter after it took over at its own 28. Bernard Mitchell ran 56 yards in six plays plus there was a 15-yard face mask penalty, all of which set up Roberts' 1-yard touchdown run.

Stars of the game: Williams rushed for 149 yards and three scores on 20 carries and threw a 43-yard touchdown for Cardinal Mooney. Mitchell ran for 76 yards on 10 carries and caught two passes for 26 yards for IRC.

Stats of the game: Indian Rocks Christian turned the ball over three times, not including the mishap on the opening kickoff, while Cardinal Mooney did not turn the ball over at all. The Cougars also won the first down battle 18-5 and outgained IRC 411 yards to 146.