Cardinal Mooney ready to 'come out and hit' in rematch with Everest in football district final
There are no surprises at this point in the season. Every team is fast, strong and rolling with momentum.
The Cardinal Mooney football team is no exception — and neither is its next challenger.
The Cardinals (8-2) will host Clarkston Everest Collegiate (7-3) in a Division 8 district final at 7 p.m. Friday at East China Stadium.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Cardinals held off the Mountaineers, 15-8, at home on Oct. 1. But they're not putting much stock into something that happened a month ago.
"I don't think we played our best game last time," Cardinal Mooney coach Joe Quesnelle said. "When we looked at the film, we made a lot of errors and slowed ourselves down. One thing you have to consider is that (Everest) is a really young team. So they're going to get better every week."
The Mountaineers are on a four-game winning streak since that loss, a stretch in which they've averaged 43.5 points per contest and have outscored opponents 174-41. Everest exploded for a 71-34 win over Flint Beecher in last week's district semifinal.
"They have a very veteran coaching staff who've coached for many, many years," Quesnelle said. "And they've been together pretty much since the inception of Everest. So they're not going to make mistakes. You're going to have beat them physically. You're not going to beat them with scheme."
"We need to come out and hit," wide receiver Ryan Trombley said. "And we need to have intensity. We came out with a lot of intensity in that (first game against Everest). If we can do that again, that would help us out a lot."
Cardinal Mooney is 3-1 since its victory over Everest last month. The Cardinals are averaging 30.5 points over their last four outings and have outscored opponents 122-51. But they also have a weapon that Everest doesn't — one of the state's premier running backs in Brendan Haisenleder.
The senior captain has rushed for 2,099 yards and 26 touchdowns in what has been a season for the ages.
"You've got to go in confident," Haisenleder said. "I'm confident in my (offensive) line, my team and my coaching staff. We've had a great week practice. We're going to go into this game ready to fight."
Mooney quarterback Brian Everhart mirrors that belief in his team.
"I'm definitely confident about this one," Everhart said. "I've got more energy and more focus this week than the first time we played them. We've got what it takes to beat them. Like coach said, they're young. I just think if we come out playing hard, we'll be ready to go. But they definitely got better through the season. You could see it in film."
Call it cautious optimism if you will, because the Cardinals are expecting a dogfight from the Mountaineers. They recognize that Everest isn't the same group it was last month.
"It's hard to beat a team twice," Quesnelle said. "You just need that extra focus. But (Everhart, Haisenleder and Trombly) and the other couple captains have really kept their focus all week. We've had a good week of practice. So I'm feeling pretty good."
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Cardinal Mooney ready to 'come out and hit' in rematch with Everest
