Holy Family football’s Rylan Cooney tosses six TDs in OT win vs. Frederick

FREDERICK — Sure the headline reads Rylan Cooney threw six touchdown passes on Thursday night against Frederick, but there are so many more critical plays that helped the No. 7 Holy Family Tigers beat the No. 5 Warriors 42-35 in overtime.

There was the Blake Neece stop as time ran out in the first half to stall a Frederick drive inside the Tigers 10. Or there was the Gage Eastman sack of Warriors quarterback Bryce Conover near the end of regulation on fourth down. And even the Mark Mollendor knock down of a Conover pass on fourth down in overtime.

Any way you slice it, it was an fabulous overall team effort on Thursday night that propelled the Tigers (5-2 overall, 2-0 North Central 2) to the win.

“They are a great team and a great program that has had a lot of success,” head coach Mike D. Gabriel said. “They’ve beat us pretty handily the last few years, so it was important to me and also the kids to make a big statement tonight.

“We belong. I think we had our confidence shaken a little bit, but we proved we belong.”

Holy Family had success all night long throwing the ball with sophomore quarterback Rylan Cooney. In the first half he connected with fellow backfield mate Jacob Lawver for two scores and had another to Tyler Stevens — who has made the transition from quarterback to wide receiver seamlessly — for 27 yards.

The Neece stop at the end of the half helped the Tigers go tot the break up 21-7 and they knew they would get the ball first coming out of the locker rooms. And on the first play of the second half, Cooney hit Dom Mazzulla — who didn’t have a catch in the first half — in the middle of the field and his big tight end did the rest, sprinting 80 yards to put the Tigers up 28-7.

“We worked hard all week in practice and we knew it was going to be a big game,” said Cooney, who unofficially finished 13-of-18 passing for 312 yards and six scores. “I was able to get in a rhythm and the offense got in a rhythm and we just kept scoring and putting points on the board.”

Unlike weeks past, Cooney didn’t yield his time at the helm to any other quarterback suitors. He took every offensive snap on Thursday night and after Frederick closed the gap to 28-21 late in the third quarter, he hooked up with Matt McCarthy for 27 yards and his fifth touchdown.

Frederick (5-1, 1-1) didn’t just go away. The Warriors clawed their way back into it in the fourth quarter, getting scoring runs from Cruz Zamudio (5 yards) and Parker Ayers (1 yard) that helped the Warriors draw even with 4:27 to play.

Each team would get one more possession, but neither could score to end the game in regulation.

The Tigers got the ball first in overtime and on third down, Cooney rolled right and threw back to his left where Mazzulla beat double coverage to haul in his second touchdown pass of the game.

“Dom has been my guy all year and has had close to 100 yards each game and I knew he was going to come down with,” Cooney said. “So that’s why I threw it to him.”

On the play, the Frederick defender hit Cooney late and the dead ball foul was enforced when the Warriors got the ball on their first possession at the 25 yard line (still first and goal) instead of the 10. Frederick reached the 12 yard line on the first play, but would get no closer and had their comeback dreams dashed when Mollendor made the final play of the game.

It was a big win for the Tigers, but now they have to turn their attention to Mead next Friday night at home.

HOLY FAMILY 42, FREDERICK 35, OT

At Frederick HS

Holy Family (5-2, 2-0)   7   14   14   0   7   —   42

Frederick (5-1, 1-1)   0   7   14   14   0   —   35

First quarter

Holy Family — Jacob Lawver 22 pass from Rylan Cooney (Will Nolan kick).

Second quarter

Holy Family — Tyler Stevens 27 pass from Cooney (Nolan kick).

Frederick — Lafai Purcell 32 pass from Bryce Conover (Teagan Boen kick).

Holy Family — Lawver 8 pass from Cooney (Nolan kick).

Third quarter

Holy Family — Dom Mazzulla 80 pass from Cooney (Nolan kick).

Frederick — Parker Ayres 7 run (Boen kick).

Frederick — Purcell 26 pass from Conover (Boen kick).

Holy Family — Matt McCarthy 27 pass from Cooney (Nolan kick).

Fourth quarter

Frederick — Cruz Zamudio 5 run (Boen kick).

Frederick — Ayers 1 run (Boen kick).

Overtime

Holy Family — Mazzulla 2 pass from Cooney (Nolan kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing — Holy Family: Jacob Lawver 22-69, Rylan Cooney 7-12, Chase McNaughton 2-(minus-4).

Passing — Holy Family: Cooney 13-18-0-312.

Receiving — Holy Family: Dom Mazzulla 4-100, Matt McCarthy 3-79, Lawver 3-46, Tyler Stevens 2-43, McNaughton 1-54.