by CANTON, OH – A season that belonged to Moeller quarterback Matt Ponatoski became a night that belonged to Liberty quarterback Andrew Leonard. The Patriot Leonard tossed for 272 yards on 17 of 23 passing with 3 touchdown passes to Christian Moulton as they had there way with the Moeller Crusader secondary in a 28-14 victory. Moulton finished with 8 catches for 161 yards and 3 touchdowns as Moeller couldn’t stop him as the captured the OHSAA Div 1 State Championship.
For the Crusaders, Matt Ponatoski couldn’t escape the Mr. Ohio jinx and had a rough night just 24 hours after winning the award. He finished with 112 yards on 16 of 30 passing with 1 touchdown. He was getting rushed all night and never looked comfortable in the pocket.
Both teams turned the ball over to start the game, the Patriots by interception and the Crusaders by downs. When the Patriots took over for a second time, they made it count. They put together a 6 play, 49-yard drive that soaked 2:59 off the clock and resulted in a Struck touchdown run. The big play coming on a Leonard to Struck 25-yard hookup to put them at the goal line before the score. They held that lead throughout the rest of the quarter, as the first ended with the Patriots on top 7-0.
Early into the second, the Patriots returned a punt to the Crusaders 16-yard line, setting them up in prime position to score and extend the lead to 14-0. They did just that on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Moulton with 7:24 to go in the second quarter.
Every time Moeller would have a nice drive going, they would turn it over and the Patriots would capitalize. This happened again with a fumble late in the second quarter, killing the Crusaders drive. However, just when it seemed like Liberty would place a strangle hold on the game, the exact same thing happened to them when Moeller grabbed a 80 yard scoop and score from Cooper Gearheart. This now changed everything as we headed to halftime with Liberty up 14-7.
Moeller had it happen to them again to start the third quarter as they were driving and fumbled it away again. Liberty wasted no time making them pay with a 61-yard touchdown pass to Christin Moulton to make it a two-score game again at 21-7, midway through the third.
In perhaps the play of the weekend, Leonard ran around bouncing off Crusaders trying to sack him, and then fired a bullet to Moulton in the corner of the endzone for six more Patriot points. It was an amazing play by a young man having an amazing game to extend the lead to 28-7. The Patriots went on to win from there by a final score of 28-14.
