The Moeller Crusaders, 5th seed in Region 4, handled the 9th seeded Mason Comets in a 38-3 dominating victory on Friday night. The Region 4 semifinal game, at Princeton High School, wasn’t close from the start and the Comets simply could not recover. The Comets won the toss and chose to defer, giving the Crusaders the ball. Before you could blink, Moeller sophomore quarterback, Matt Ponatoski, found Jordan Marshall for a 63 yard touchdown to give the Crusaders the early 8-0 lead, following the 2 point conversion.

Moeller played at a level that has not been seen in a while. There seemed to be some anger and vitriol to their game, with the ultimate goal of embarrassing Mason. That was exactly the case. The Comets have one of the better defensive units in the city and they were absolutely no match for Ponatoski and the Crusaders. After Mason senior quarterback Quinn Brown was picked off by Micah Rice, the Crusaders found the endzone again. Ponatoski found Roman Mason for a 21 yard touchdown. The Crusaders went for two again and converted to make it 16-0 with just over 8 minutes to go in the first quarter.

As if things couldn’t get any worse for the Comets, they were unable to get anything going offensively. Down 16-0, Mason was forced to punt, giving the ball back to the high powered Moeller offense. Ponatoski continued to be on a heater, finding Preston Smith for a 36 yard touchdown. Moeller was unable to convert on the two-point conversion attempt and the score was 22-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was much of the same as Moeller continued to pour it on. Quinn Brown fumbled for the Comets and Moeller recovered to take over at the 44-yard line. A few plays later, Ponatoski avoided a sack and found Smith again. This time, it was from seven yards out. Moeller once again went for two but was unsuccessful and it was 28-0 with 8:26 to go in the half. The Comets did thwart the shutout with a field goal from 25 yard field goal from Max Gogul. The field goal was set up from a few nice plays by the Mason offense. Brown scurried for a huge first down to keep the drive going. Kai Woolfolk had a nice carry to put Mason in the red zone. They were unable to find the endzone but settled for three to make it 28-3 with 2:41 to go in the half.

Less than a minute later, Ponatoski capped off his incredible half with a 51-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eli Jacon-Duffy to give the Crusaders a 35-3 lead at the half. The first half performance was a record setting one for Ponatoski. His 298 yards passing made him the All-Time Single Season Passing Yardage holder (2,965 yards), passing Noah Geselbrecht.

The second half was much less exciting. Both teams settled down, playing backups. After an interception by Kyler Paul, the Crusaders were unable to come away with another touchdown. Devin Orr extended the Moeller lead with a 27-yard field goal. That would be it for both teams as the Crusaders advance to their third straight regional final, setting up a rematch with Lakota West, on Friday at Mason.

Chris Asbrock is the owner, writer and analyst for Impact Sports Cincinnati and can be followed on Twitter   and