Playmaker Luca DiLorenzo (21) and the Linsly Cadets will play their first home game of the season Saturday when Cardinal Mooney travels from Youngstown. File Photo

WHEELING — Linsly’s powerful football schedule has been well documented, but anyone that doesn’t believe coach B.J. Depew’s squad is challenged each and every week need look no further than Saturday’s 1 p.m. contest against 1-2 record Youngstown Cardinal Mooney on the Cadets’ campus.

Coach Carl Pelini’s Cardinals have gone through a rough patch over the last four seasons, with consecutive losing campaigns including last year’s 1-9 showing, making the once powerful team still scary but also a trap game coming off a trip to Fairmont Senior and with games at St. Clairsville, Fort Frye and Steubenville ahead in the following three weeks.

“We are going to have to play four quarters every week with our schedule, and we know that,” Depew mentioned. “The only break, or breather, we have on our entire schedule is week seven when we have a bye. Our players are always a little more excited to play Ohio Valley Athletic Conference teams before they are more local schools that they know but everyone here knows the tradition of Cardinal Mooney and we will be ready to play them Saturday.

“It’s the first time we have ever played them on our campus, and it is our reunion weekend, so this is going to be a little bit of a big deal for us.”

While Linsly dropped a tough-to-swallow 27-24 decision to the Polar Bears last week, Mooney has lost a pair of close games over the initial three weeks of the season including last week’s 22-17 setback to unbeaten Chaney. The Cardinals’ led their season-opener by a 7-0 margin late before giving up 10 points in the final 6:04 of the contest to fall against Boardman.

“We didn’t execute very well last week and Fairmont Senior did and that was the story of that game,” Depew said. “I was very pleased with the defense and how physical we played. We were able to hold down their top running back but their quarterback had an outstanding game. They also executed a fake punt and blocked a field goal. All the big plays in the game just fell their way.

“Our quarterback is still young and has only started two games and we made a lot more mistakes than we were expecting to make in week two of the season, but they were all mistakes that we will be able to learn from.”

Pelini’s squad is led on offense by a huge offensive line which features 6 ft. 4 in., 280-pound senior Tino Merlo. Behind him is junior quarterback Ashton O’Brien while the Redbirds have a pair of quality receivers in Senior Ty Reali and Robert Hardy.

“A lot of people will look at their record and what they did last year and just assume this isn’t a very good football team coming in,” Depew said. “But they are very solid once again and we have come to terms with just how high quality of a football team they really are. You used to be able to look at records and judge what a team had, but with the quality of opponents people play any more you can’t do that.

“Mooney has two losses to a pair of very good football teams and they also beat a very good football team. Their record and what they did last year are really immaterial.”

The Cadets have plenty of offensive fire power, which was on full display in Fairmont last Friday. Junior quarterback Atley Cowan was true on 16 of 39 pass attempts for 262 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted twice. Cowan also shared team-high rushing honors with classmate Alex Taylor as both logged 45 yards on the ground.

Big-play senior Luca DiLorenzo hauled in four passes for 116 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown reception, while Jy’Leik Johnson had three catches for 65 yards and a score and Nate Coleman added three grabs for 28 and a touchdown.

DiLorenzo also intercepted a pass on defense while Raymond Kovalesky and Brody Cottrill combined for 30 tackles, 15 solos, two caused fumbles and one recovered bobble against Fairmont Senior. The Linsly defense also recorded three sacks in the contest.

“This game is really going to be a toss-up and we know that we are going to have to play extremely well to get out of here with a win,” Depew finished. “Our primary focus will be on stopping the run. They have a couple of big, powerful backs that are very good but at the same time they throw the football a lot better than they did last year and they have really become more balanced.”

The Cadets charted a 35-21 victory over the Cardinals last season in Youngstown.