CINCINNATI, Ohio - Archbishop Moeller quarterback Matt Ponatoski picked a great time to have the best half of his life Friday night, as the sophom*ore threw five touchdown passes in the first half of a 38-3 win over Mason in a Division I, Region 4 regional semifinal at Princeton's Jake Sweeney Stadium.
Ponatoski threw his first touchdown pass on the fifth play of the game as running back Jordan Marshall lined up wide to the left. The quarterback took the snap, turned and threw to the Michigan commit, who turned it up the sideline and was gone for a 63-yard touchdown.
“Whatever I can do to help the team, and they put me in the best position to do my best out there,” said Marshall, who ran the ball just five times in the game. “It was a pass tonight and I didn't have many rushes but whatever I can do to help my team is what I'm going to do.”
On the next possession, Ponatoski hit Roman Mason for a 21-yard touchdown pass and then one possession later, he threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Preston Smith and Moeller led 22-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter.
“Everything was working,” Ponatoski said. “The O-line was doing their thing. and the receivers were making my job easy. They're making people miss and we had a few big plays.”
Ponatoski threw two more touchdown passes in the second quarter, one to Smith for seven yards and the other to Eli Jacon-Duffy for 51 yards. The pass to Smith was created as the quarterback was able to get out of the grasp of a Mason defender long enough to twist his body and fire to an open Smith in the end zone.
“I knew we had man-to-man when we motioned out our running back,” Ponatoski said of the play where he threw the touchdown to Smith. “They brought a blitz and we had five guys blocking six of theirs. I kind of visioned that Preston was open. I threw it and I trusted him that he's going to catch it and sure enough, it ended up in the end zone.”
The sophom*ore quarterback completed 14 of his 17 passes for 287 yards and five scores in the first half. His only pass of the second half resulted in an interception.
“He's a beast, he's a dawg,” Marshall said of his quarterback. “He's only a sophom*ore and he has so much work that he's going to do and he's going to be one of the best.”
This isn’t the first playoff experience for Ponatoski, who was thrown into duty last season in the regional final and the state semifinals. Those games have paid huge dividends for him as the Crusaders navigate their way through the postseason this year.
“The moment is not too big anymore,” Ponatoski said. “I kind of just come out here and there's not really butterflies in the stomach. I can kind of be in a leader role now just because I had the experience last year so I thank the people for trusting me last year.”
The Moeller defense forced a pair of turnovers in each half, as Micah Rice intercepted a pass and Jacob Cravens recovered a fumble in the first half and Kyler Paul added an interception in the third quarter and Will Adkins recovered a fumble in the fourth.
“We have really good defensive players,” Moeller head coach Bert Bathiany said. “They love each other, they fly fast, they hit hard. Our defensive coordinator does a phenomenal job and our defensive coaches do a great job of getting our great players in positions to make plays.”
Senior kicker Devin Orr kicked a 27-yard field goal with 28 seconds left in the third quarter to finish the scoring.
With the win, Moeller advances to the regional final and will play Lakota West at a site to be determined by the OHSAA as the Firebirds defeated Princeton 19-7 in the other Region 4 regional semifinal Friday night. It will be a rematch of last year’s regional final, won by Moeller.
“They are a really good team and (coach Tom) Bolden is a great coach,” Marshall said. “They have good players on both sides of the ball, but our job doesn't change. We know this has been all about us since day one. And when we play our best ball, I don't think anybody in the state can beat us.”
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
