With a playoff game on the line, Cardinal Mooney rose to the challenge on Friday. They blew past the King's Academy Lions 56-28. The victory was just business as usual for the Cougars, who after 11 games remain undefeated this season.
Connail Jackson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 206 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 10.8 yards per carry, and also picking up 63 receiving yards and a touchdown. He showed off some serious burst, cutting through the defense on one rush that went for 58 yards. Another player making a difference was Devin Mignery, who rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries.
Another reason for the win was Cardinal Mooney's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for ten sacks. Bryce Fulda led the group effort, picking up four of those sacks all by himself. He also set a new season high mark in total tackles with nine. Another thorn in King's Academy's side was Chris Mccorkle, who made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss) and defended seven passes in addition to snagging three interceptions which he returned one-yard for a touchdown.
Cardinal Mooney was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 345 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as King's Academy only rushed for 202.
Defeat or not, King's Academy got some senior leadership from Javian Jones and Joe Dailey. Jones picked up 222 receiving yards and three touchdowns, while Dailey threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes. Dailey is becoming a predictor of King's Academy's success: when he posts at least 250 passing yards the team is 7-2 (and 1-2 when he doesn't). King's Academy also got a significant boost from Aydan Ranzie, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 85 yards.
Cardinal Mooney pushed their record up to 11-0 with the win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 32.9 points. As for King's Academy, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-4 record this season.
Cardinal Mooney didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next match, a 35-14 victory against Bishop Verot on the 29th. King's Academy does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
