Mo Darling-Cunningham and the Irish Seek Revenge After Last Year's Early Exit
SEATTLE- The Fighting Irish, led by a small yet powerful and well-rounded senior class, including senior wide receiver Mo Darling-Cunningham, look to achieve something this group has yet to do, win a state championship.
Following a disappointing season full of ups and downs last year and a loss to Kennewick in the quarterfinals, the Irish look to revenge their losses and come away as state champs for the first time since 2017.
The senior class has been whittled down more and more from the original freshmen year football team. With the frosh team reaching heights of 115 players to now, the senior class down to 16. The seniors that have persevered, though, know how far they have come together and feel as confident as ever that they can achieve what they set out to do.
Senior wide receiver Mo Darling-Cunningham stated, “We’ve been through a lot together, good, and bad. We went through freshmen football together, the whole Covid situation and we’ve seen the number of players from our class get smaller and smaller. We feel that’s allowed us to become a lot closer down the road.”
The Irish are off to a hot start this season with a record of 4-0 so far in dominating fashion with wins over highly ranked Bothell and Rainier Beach. The Irish defense held both Rainier Beach and Seattle Prep to zero points on the night.
The Irish look to continue the hot streak into their week 5 opponent, rival Eastside Catholic on Eastside's home turf. The teams will face off both owning a 4-0 record and both being state championship competitors. The Irish look forward to the competition in hopes it can help them reach their ultimate goals.
“We have the mentality that we can win a state championship if we stick to our plan and stick together as team. We are a very talented team, but we believe that our mentality, the work we put in over the summer and the relationships we have built with each other will help us get over the edge. Our team bonding and chemistry has been a very important thing for us this season, especially over the summer we felt we built a true brotherhood,” says Cunningham.
Cunningham is excited for this team because of the vast improvements he has seen in the team, individually and overall, since last season.
“We know how hard we worked since last season, and it’s been great to see how much it has paid off for everyone. We all bought in on Coach P’s training over the summer and we feel overall we have been a faster team and stronger team than ones in the past."
With the Irish halfway through the regular season, two remaining games stand out. Week 5 against Eastside Catholic and Week 8 versus the Metro opponent, Garfield. Two highly ranked opponents that will bring out the best in the Fighting Irish.
O’Dea looks to continue the hot streak throughout the regular season and carry the momentum into the playoffs. With the pressure looming after last season’s disappointing ending, the Irish believe they have what it takes to be crowned state champions once again.
Comments